Students In Love
by Dantikat
Summary: Just snippets of events in the lives of some of the students of Class 1-A, where time is spent with those that matter most to them. Cross-posted to AOF, under the same name.
1. Would you help me with my work?

Summary: Izuku decides to be a nice boyfriend and help Ochako out with her schoolwork over a week-long break.

* * *

Midoriya Izuku was diligent, as everyone who knew him could attest to. Once Aizawa-sensei had informed his class that they'd have a week off from classes, he had spent the first two nights getting out any work that he hadn't finished yet and had promptly completed all of it. Waking up the next morning, most of those in his class expressed their disbelief that he'd done all of it already. He was matched only in speed by Iida, Yaoyorozu, and Todoroki, though that was to be expected.

Kaminari and Ashido specifically were the ones who vocalized their displeasure.

"Euuuuuuuuuuggghhh," That was Ashido, groaning in anguish as she dejectedly threw herself into the empty sofa in the lounge. "This is too much! I'm just falling more and more behind!"

Kaminari leaned against the back of the couch that she'd face-planted into, nodding his head in agreement. He had a hand on his chin as if he was thinking up an idea. "Mm. If only we were all blessed with Yaomomo, Iida, or even Midoriya's smarts." He commented, seemingly to no one.

Currently, the lounge was only filled up with those two, Midoriya and Uraraka, who sat together in the corner of the other sofa, Yaoyorozu, and Kirishima. Yaoyorozu had a book in her hand, reading from it with a pair of glasses perched on her nose, sitting in between the couple and the red-head. Kirishima was in the other corner of the sofa, lying down with his legs thrown over the leg. His hands were behind his head and, despite the fact that he hadn't done any of his work yet, he didn't seem to be as worried as the other two.

Upon hearing her name, Yaoyorozu looked up at the two with a tilt of her head.

"You know, we have a week off for a reason," She tells them, bookmarking her page before setting it down. "You have plenty of time to actually get it done."

Ashido groans again before pushing herself up so that she can look at the vice-president from across the room.

"But if I spend all of my time doing work, then I'll have no time to do fun things!" She complains, crossing her arms underneath her chin. "Can't ya help me out? Pleeeeeease, Yaomomo?"

Yaoyorozu sighs, crossing her arms over her chest. She stalls a bit before responding and relents in the end. "I'll help you study, but I'm not going to give you answers, Ashido-san. You'll have to do that on your own."

Before Ashido can respond, Kaminari jumps in from where he stood behind the couch, a big smile plastered on his face.

"Say no more, Yaomomo! We'll take all the help we can get!" He responds in Ashido's place. The aforementioned girl sits up, putting her finger in his face, and the two of them begin to go off on some sort of argument. Yaoyorozu and Kirishima watch from their place on the sofa, looking on at the scene in horror and humor respectively. Midoriya and Uraraka hadn't been paying much attention, but the sudden increase in volume was definitely enough to pique their interest.

Midoriya was in the corner, one leg up on the couch and the other dangling off its edge. One of his arms was thrown over the back of the couch, and the other was secured around Uraraka's stomach, holding her close to him. Uraraka's head was laid against Midoriya's chest, just under his chin. Her knees were stuck up in the air, her feet pressed firmly against the couch, and she held a book in her hands, resting against Midoriya's arm.

The commotion stirred them, causing the couple to turn their heads to listen in.

Kirishima had managed to get himself into the argument somehow, though he was smiling along like regular and seemed to be taking the entire thing quite lightly. Yaoyorozu was still watching from her place on the couch, frowning a bit. She didn't look too put off, so she was at least used to it. After such a long time, it made sense that she would be. Both Midoriya and Uraraka listened in on the conversation for a moment.

"I doubt you even need it, Kirishima! Your grades are leagues better than ours!" They heard Kaminari say. In response, Kirishima laughed, his sharp teeth wide in a smile.

"You'd think that. I'm not that much higher than you two," He said nonchalantly. "And even if I was, it never hurts to get help when ya think you need it. Reach as far as you want, I say. It's pretty manly, don't you think?"

"That's not manly, you're just taking up time from Yaomomo! We need help more than you!" Ashido practically screamed in response. Uraraka giggled and Midoriya smiled. Turning away from the altercation, he buried his nose back into Uraraka's hair, peering at the book over her head. Following suit, Uraraka went back to her book and started to read again. The two of them had been doing small things like that for a while, reading together or just being near each other because it was easy. They'd only been dating a month-a very short month at that. As such, neither of them really knew what they were 'supposed' to do. Since both of them were just naturally awkward as well, it only made the first two weeks of their relationship even harder.

Even now, a month in, and they were still unsure. At the very least, they'd drawn some kind of line in the dirt; Hugging was alright. No, not alright. It was a lot better than just 'alright'. It was hard to fathom how much Midoriya _loved_ hugging Uraraka. It didn't make any sense. Not to him, anyway.

Midoriya felt Uraraka shuffle a bit in front of him, making him loosen his grip around her stomach a bit. Maybe he had been holding onto her too tightly? Was she trying to tell him that she was uncomfortable with it now? Damn, what was he supposed to do?!

Uraraka fell back against him, sliding a bit further than before. The hem of her shirt rode up, exposing her stomach, where Midoriya's arm dragged against it. His face turned a peculiar shade of red as he tried to direct his eyes elsewhere, but he felt Uraraka's head moving once more, causing his gaze to instead drop to her face.

She looked at him, arching her head backward and against his chest to do so. For a moment, Midoriya could see something akin to nervousness in her face before she spoke.

"Say, Deku..," she started. Her voice was low and her naturally red cheeks seemed to be even brighter than normal. "..Would you help me with my work?"

* * *

An hour later, Midoriya was standing in the doorway of Uraraka's room, his mind already running at eight thousand miles-per-hour. It wasn't like she'd asked him to do anything serious. It was just schoolwork! Schoolwork that he, as the workaholic student he was, had already finished! It only made sense that she'd want his help since he was confident enough to be done so soon, right? After all, they were friends before they'd started dating. Even then, they'd constantly asked each other for help. So this wasn't any different, right? Right?!

These were the questions that Midoriya constantly asked himself, trying his hardest to rectify the situation. No matter what he thought of, though, he couldn't really think of a way to take off the biggest differing factor between the present and the past. Before they'd started dating, Uraraka and Midoriya had only ever really done their work in the lounge. It was comfortable and easily accessible. Why wouldn't they use it?

Since they'd started dating, though, they'd slowly gotten more comfortable around each other. Not too comfortable, thanks to the both of them being as awkward as humanly possible but comfortable enough. The big deal, though, was that Uraraka had suggested they work in her room, as opposed to the lounge like always. On the surface, it didn't seem like a problem. _We're dating! It's perfectly fine for the two of us to be alone together! What's the problem?_ Izuku told himself, but it wasn't enough to pop the nervous bubble that had been growing in his gut. They'd gone on a few dates, though they were casual enough so that they didn't feel like _real_ dates, the two of them had never really spent too much time alone, with only each others company. There was always either another person, or another group of people, that stopped them from being completely separated from the class.

Now, though...now was different. They'd be in Uraraka's room, which was isolated enough as it is thanks to only having Ashido on the same floor as her. Speaking of Mina, Midoriya clearly heard her telling the others to steer clear of Uraraka's room for the rest of the day. Ochako herself didn't seem to hear her, but it blew a couple fuses in Midoriya's head. So far, the universe seemed to enjoy watching him flustered.

"Izuku-kun?" He heard her call out to him, and he immediately looked up. She was standing next to her bed, looking back at him with a worried expression on her face. It dawned on him that he'd just been standing in her doorway, a hand gripping his chin, and possibly muttering like a madman. "Are you alright?"

"A-ah, Uraraka-chan! I-I'm just," He began to stutter, trying to find the proper words to just tell her that he was okay. He failed, in the end, and walked into her room, shutting the door quietly behind him. "N-never mind that! W-we should get to work! Th-the faster it's done the better, r-right?"

Ochako fixed him with an inquisitive stare before slowly nodding, a small smile gracing her face regardless of how he was acting. Seeing that smile made Izuku a little less nervous and drew out a smile from himself as well. Enthusiastically, Ochako pumped her fist in front of her.

"Alright! Let's get this going!" She exclaimed. Quickly, she hops onto her bed, with her back against the wall, and pats the space next to her, looking up at Izuku expectantly. Without waiting for him to verbally answer her or to even move, she pulls her textbooks off of her desk and plops them down into her lap. Izuku stays standing for a moment, simply watching Ochako for a moment. His smile gets a bit more genuine and his ill thoughts begin to trickle out of his head. What was he even so worried about?

Hefting up the textbook he'd brought with him, Izuku walked over and dropped onto Ochako's bed next to her. She instantly snuggled up to him, though not enough for it to distract her from the work she'd so eagerly pulled out. Izuku blushed, snuggled back, and immediately cracked open his textbook open.

"Okay. What do you need help with first, Uraraka-chan?"

* * *

With a clap, Ochako shut her textbook. Sighing in joy, she tossed the book off to the side and completely slumped into Izuku's side. He blushed but tossed his book as well and looped an arm around her shoulder.

They'd been working for hours on end, with Izuku guiding her and Ochako quickly putting things together in her head. The few times she needed his help, Izuku was quick to intervene and assist her, though without actually giving her the answer. He wanted her to learn, after all.

Now, with the gargantuan load of schoolwork done, the two were free to relax. Ochako immediately seized her new freedom, deftly wrapping herself around Izuku's core and resting her head against his chest. He laughed at her antics but moved around so that she'd be as comfortable as possible. She was nearly straddling his waist at this point, but neither of them really thought about it as the two of them instead laid back and enjoyed the comfortable atmosphere that fell over them.

"Oh, wow...," Ochako murmured underneath her breath. Izuku made a noise in response, prompting her to continue. She nods, her hair rubbing up against his chin and making him chuckle a little. "..It's gotten pretty late, huh?"

Izuku tilted his head and looked over at the clock on her desk. They'd been focused on their work, so both of them had failed to notice the sky darkening through the window. Now, it was nearly pitch-black outside. The clock on her desk flashed 8:45. They'd been working for nearly 3 hours!

With a yelp, Izuku sat up a little too fast, banging the back of his head against the wall. Cursing himself silently and rubbing the back of his head, he began to try and move to get his things together. What would the others think?! A few of them, namely Mina, Kaminari, and Mineta, already assumed they were doing lewd things when they were alone, but this would make it so much worse! He was beginning to panic. Where had he thrown his textbook off to? Where was it?!

Ochako grabbed his wrist before he could dash off the bed. When Izuku looked back at her, she had a pleading look in her eyes. Her lips were tight, pursed together and she could barely meet his gaze.

"Say, Deku..," She started. Her other hand clutched at the sweater she was wearing. "..Do you wanna stay a little longer? I-I-I know it's sudden, and everything, b-but...," She finally let go of his wrist, her eyes turning toward the wall, though Izuku had a feeling she wasn't really even looking at much of anything. "..I-I thought it could be nice...if we stayed together for a bit more."

At his blank and, definitely astounded face, Ochako pressed her hands together and gave him a wobbly smile. "A-at the very least, curfew isn't in effect as early because we're on break! A-and we won't have to worry about Aizawa-sensei barging through at ten like he usually does! S-so, I figured we could do something!"

She kept rambling on which, surprisingly, managed to bring Izuku back from the brink of utter desolation. He had rubbed off on her, it seemed, as she kept going on and on about how she 'just wanted to spend some more time with him'.

He listened to her for a couple more minutes before laughing quietly. He hadn't really made any distance when he'd tried to jump off the bed, so all he really had to do was slink slowly back into his spot. Once she saw him moving, Ochako's rambling tapered off to a halt as she watched him lean back against the wall, putting his hands behind his head.

"I-Izuku?" She asked. It felt weird to hear her say his actual name after he'd gotten so used to her calling him 'Deku'. He decided he liked it. Despite how relaxed his actions looked, though, he was still ridiculously nervous. It took him a moment to actually get words to come out of his mouth.

"I-I'd love to stick around, Ura-Ochako," He told her, looking up at her from against the wall. "S-sorry I tried to run out like that...B-but really! I'd like to stay. I-If you'll have me, I mean."

For a short moment, the two of them simply looked at each other. Ochako was still on her knees, though now that Izuku was practically laying against the wall, she was looking down at him. Likewise, Izuku was looking up at her, the thick curls of his hair blocking his vision ever so slightly.

Suddenly and without warning, Ochako threw herself across Izuku's chest, practically smothering him in a tight hug. He groaned but couldn't stop the laughed that escaped him as he hugged her back and sat up with her. Her eyes were red, which he told himself was from her struggling to stay up while they worked, but she had a big smile on her face. It was so bright, it made Izuku's heart flutter and he felt like he was falling for her all over again.

Once she finally let up and loosened her death-hold on him, Ochako fell back on the bed, sitting on her knees again. Izuku had pulled himself up to her level, and now the two were even in height; While sitting down, anyway. Izuku was slightly taller than her standing up.

Ochako darted forward and pecked Izuku on the lips. Before he could even think about it, she pulled away and stepped off of her bed, walking over to the TV she kept in her room. Izuku, his face dusted with blush now, slid up to the end of the bed and watched her.

"Let's watch a movie, okay?" She suggested, turning back to face him as she did. He nodded mutely and she turned back around, sifting through the few movies she had in her possession. It didn't take her long to settle on one: ' _Finding Nemo'_ of all things, but Izuku smiled. It was a cute movie, and Ochako was cute. It made sense that she'd like movies like that.

She excitedly put the movie on and dashed to shut the light off. Falling onto the bed in front of the TV next to Izuku, she snuggled herself into his chest and he looped an arm around her.

As the movie started, Izuku decided to cast off the thoughts he'd had about the others thinking ill of them. What they thought they were doing, while uncomfortable, didn't matter to him as much as what he was actually doing: Which was just spending with the girl he loved.

It was too dark in her room for her to see it perfectly, but Izuku smiled and relaxed into her as much as he could. He'd enjoy the night with her, no matter what the others thought.


	2. I like the way your hands fit in mine

Summary: Todoroki has been training extremely hard lately and none of his classmates seem to know why. None of them act on anything, though, because it doesn't seem to be affecting him too hard. Yaoyorozu, however, knows him well enough to see that it is indeed affecting him. She takes it upon herself to look after him.

* * *

It was getting close to curfew, and yet Todoroki-kun hadn't come back to the dorms yet. That was to be expected, though, Yaoyorozu thought. After all, he usually showed up just before curfew and retired to his room immediately. Most times, he went without food at night because of this schedule of his. She was worried, that much was obvious to anyone who saw her when he was gone. None of them really knew why he had been training so hard all of a sudden, but it made Yaoyorozu worry that much more. It made her think he was overworking himself, and she didn't want to see him deliberately do that to himself.

' _No matter. I set aside a couple bentos in the fridge earlier. I'll make sure he eats tonight._ ' She thought to herself as she walked out of the dorms. Not many of the others really saw a problem with how much he'd been training lately. To them, he looked like he always did. He was aloof, standoffish, and seldom talked to anyone aside from Midoriya, Iida, and Yaoyorozu herself. But she could see what it was doing to him. He slouched more, walked a lot slower, and had heavy bags under his eyes. Since no one else frequented him as much as she did, none of them seemed to notice. But Yaoyorozu could see every slight difference. And she hated them.

She picked up her pace, walking faster toward the gym Todoroki often used to train. He'd gone to different ones, but this was the one that he usually went to, and it seemed that he'd done the same tonight.

Cracking open the door, Yaoyorozu saw Todoroki going through his usual training. The sleeves of his gym uniform were pulled up to the elbows and he was shifting, seamlessly, between his left and right side. One moment, giant spikes of ice would rise out of the ground, only for flames from his left side to cut through them, melting them down instantly. He was picking up speed, she noticed and was forcing himself to switch faster and faster. The other times he'd been training, he hadn't been going this hard. Suddenly, the pit in her stomach got heavier, though she couldn't explain why. She was always worried about him pushing himself too hard and, watching him now, she felt like that was exactly what he was doing, but worse. She was legitimately worried for his safety now.

Yaoyorozu continued to watch as Todoroki continued his training. His speed was astonishing, to say the least. She could see the strain it put on him, though. Even though the frost didn't have time to spread across his body, every time he used his right side, it flared up worse than last time. It was the same for his left. Every burst of heat he shot from his hand sent flares zipping up his arm. Despite his resistance to it, she could clearly see the pain that it put him in.

Yaoyorozu's face fell as she continued to watch. He was pushing himself so hard, for seemingly no reason. What would he do if he hurt himself while he was in here, with no one knowing where he was? He couldn't expect himself to just walk it off, could he? So many questions were running through her head that she barely had time to register one of the only mistakes she'd ever seen Todoroki make.

Frost spread across the ground under his right foot. Immediately, it clawed it's way up his leg, reaching his knee at record speeds. Todoroki gritted his teeth and began to bring his left arm around to use his left. The second he did, though, it flared up his arm, tearing through the sleeve of his gym uniform. Stifling a yell, he fell to his knees. Instinctively, he put out his right hand to catch his fall, only for it to land onto a shattered patch of ice that instantly tore through his palm. He allowed himself to curse, one time that echoed out in the empty gym around him, before he thrust his left hand at the ice, melting it instantly at the expense of more flames running up his arm. Once it was done, he fell back, panting. His palm was bleeding badly and he wasn't exactly the best with first aid. Well, no matter. He'd–

"Todoroki-kun!" He heard a voice scream out. His eyes widened as he turned around to see Yaoyorozu running toward him, worry etched on her face. Todoroki tried to say something but was alarmed to find that there seemed to be a lump in his throat. He was too busy watching her–watching the look on her face. He decided that he didn't like that look.

"Yaoyorozu?" He managed out, incredulously. He managed to turn himself around to face her without his palm touching anything, but the pain was still present. "What are you doing here?"

She quickly fell to her knees in front of him, grabbing his wrist and pulling his palm closer to herself.

"I was worried," She said quickly as she reached into her jacket. She'd always brought a first aid kit with her when she went to check on Todoroki. Usually, she'd leave it in the lounge for when he got back. He never used them. "So I came to check on you. And what do I find? You've injured yourself."

Todoroki is forced to lean forward as she wretches his hand toward herself. He thinks of just snatching his hand away and leaving, but that'd be rude and he didn't want to offend Yaoyorozu in some way.

"I'm fine," He says unconvincingly, even to himself. He doesn't move his hand though as she begins looking it over, the first aid kit sitting on the floor between them now. "Really. You don't need to waste your time on this, Yaoyorozu."

Shaking her head at him, she keeps her attention on his hand. The cuts are deeper than they look, though the bleeding is slowing down. She lifts his palm to inspect them more and instead catches sight of scars. A lot of them, all along his arms. These ones look older, but they still look bad, as if none of them had been cared for at all.

"...Todoroki..?" She starts, lifting his other arm as well. She finds more scars, just as bad as the others. It's almost as if...

"Do you...do you never look at your own injuries?" She asks him, her voice low. She'd been neglecting to look at him this since she'd sat down across from him, but now she looks up, trying to find his eyes; Only to see that he's averted his eyes, staring at the floor, the wall, the ceiling–anything but her. His face is red and he hesitates before opening his mouth again.

"..I'm fine, Yaoyorozu. It's nothing you need to worry about." He tries to pull his arms away from her, but she tightens her grips around his wrists and keeps ahold of him. He winces, and she silently apologizes to him for aggravating any of his scars but it's necessary.

"No," she says. The tone of her voice forces Todoroki to finally look at her, only to see the most serious look on her face that he'd ever seen. "No, you are not ' _fine'_. Look at yourself! All you've been doing for the past month is coming here and pushing yourself harder and harder! You haven't been eating and you barely speak to anyone anymore!"

Yaoyorozu is ashamed to notice that she's close to tears and that it's taking everything that she has in order to stop herself from letting the tears flow.

"I asked Aizawa-sensei about your grades and he says that they've dropped a considerate amount. No one really sees you anymore after classes...y-you disappear and you're gone all night. We...I don't see you until morning, and even then you still barely eat."

Todoroki watches her with rapt fascination as she both fawns over his arms and yells at him. His face is red with embarrassment, but he can't stop himself from staring at her throughout the entire thing.

Suddenly she grips his wrists again, causing him to wince once more. His eyes flick down to where her hands are around his wrists and then back up to her face. She's staring him in the eyes, giving off the most serious facade she possibly can, despite the tears in the corners of her eyes.

"You either need to learn to take better care of yourself," She says, her eyes dropping back to his hands. "Or you need to learn how to ask for help sometimes!"

Stunned into silence, Todoroki finds that he can't look at her in the face anymore out of shame. His eyes fall to the floor, his hair falling over to block them from her sight. Yaoyorozu's heart drops, but she bites her lip and turns her attention back to his hands. She'd disinfected all of his scars–including the old ones–and now she just needed to wrap them. Reaching back to the first aid kit, she pulled out a large roll of gauze and began to unravel it. She started with his left hand, since it was less demanding, and wrapped it gently from his fingers all the way to his elbow. She didn't want to hinder his movements too much, so she left it a little loose around his knuckles and his wrist.

As she moved onto his right hand, Todoroki risked a glanced toward her. He couldn't see her eyes anymore, as she was completely focused on the task at hand. ' _Why...why does she try so hard?_ ' he asked himself. ' _I...simply didn't want her to get caught up in my...petty issues. I didn't want to bother her with it'._

"Why...," He hears her whisper, but she shakes her head and looks back to his hands.

Todoroki sighs, wishing he was able to just get up and leave. He wasn't good at this type of thing; Talking from the heart and not from his head. But...'O _ut of all people, Yaoyorozu deserves to hear the truth the most. I can at least give her that._ '

"Because...," He starts, still looking away while trying to think of a way to word it. "I care about you, Yaoyorozu. I didn't want to bother you with all of my...petty issues. It...seemed like a stupid thing to do...I'm sorry."

Yaoyorozu finishes wrapping his older scars and looks down at his right hand, where the newer ones sit fresh before she trusts herself to talk.

"Todoroki-kun...no matter what, your issues won't bother me. A-As long as you're willing to ask for help, I'm willing to help you...because...I-I care about you, Todoroki-kun. I don't want..to see you get hurt..." She tells him, her voice falling as she finishes. The weight of her words catches up to her, her face turning red as she turns back to his hand, gently starting to wrap his right palm. Todoroki's face does the same, and it's suddenly a lot harder to look at her. His eyes turn toward the floor again and he hopes that his hair blocks it from sight.

They sit in silence as Yaoyorozu finishes up the wrapping on his hand, neither of them really able to look at one another. She pulls on the line of gauze, making sure it's secure around Todoroki's hand before she snaps it off with the small pair of scissors in the first aid kit. Inspecting his arms once more, she nods to herself, pleased with her work. She moves to separate and put the supplies away, but Todoroki catches her hand, stopping her. The blush on her face roars into life once more as she turns back to him, nervously tilting her head.

"T-Todoroki-kun?" She starts, leaning a bit closer to try and catch a glimpse of his face. "A-are you okay?"

It takes him a moment to react, let alone answer, to her question. He grips her hand a bit before finally looking up at her. There's a look on his face that she can't quite define. But...it strangely puts her at peace and helps her relax. Her shoulders slump and she grips his hand back.

"Call me Shouto," He starts, looking her dead in the eyes. He tilts his head slightly. "Not Todoroki. Call me Shouto, please."

Yaoyorozu recoils a bit but doesn't get far, thanks to their hands connected between the two of them. As far as she knew, no one ever really called him by his first name. It felt...wrong. He had an air of regality around him that made it hard to treat him like a regular person. But, as she watched him now, that air of regality dissipated into nothingness. All that was left before her now...was Shouto.

With a smile on her face, she leaned forward again and took his other hand in hers as well. Gripping both of them, she nodded at him, trying to keep eye contact as she did.

"Alright. But, if I'm to call you Shouto," She starts, smiling as she does. "Then you must call me Momo."

He looks at her for a while, his brow furrowed. Momo can't understand what's going on in his head, but she doesn't have to. After a moment, his eyes soften and he smiles. It's the most genuine smile she's ever seen on his face and it makes her heart flutter.

"Okay." He agrees, and that's all he has to say. They lapse into silence but, unlike earlier, this one is comfortable. They don't mind staying silent because...well, there's not much to talk about anymore. Shouto could tell her a lot of things, but did he need to? It felt like it'd ruin the atmosphere if he did, so he chose not to. Momo was thinking along the same lines. She could've told him a lot about how worried the others actually were about him. It wasn't necessary, though. He'd picked up on it himself, so what was the point of saying it aloud?

It's difficult for Momo to look at him, but she can't explain to herself why. Instead, her eyes are trained on the floor between them, though they always glance back toward where the two of them are still holding hands. Shouto's eyes are stuck on both of his own hands, wrapped in white, holding onto hers as if it's the easiest thing he's ever done. Idly, he runs his thumb along her fingers while he thinks. It's calming.

He grips her hands and Momo looks back up at him, surprise practically spelled out across her face. He meets her eyes before looking back down at her hands with a small smile on his face.

"Momo," He starts, still running his thumb along her fingers. Momo leans in a bit, trying to strain her ear to hear him as he says; "I like the way your hands fit in mine."

She blushes, full of embarrassment, and finds that it's even harder for her to look at him now. Despite that, though, she grips his hands tighter in return.

"Th-they mesh quite well, don't they?" She manages to stutter out before looking away again.

Without having to look at her, Shouto could feel the embarrassment flowing off of her. He couldn't really understand it completely, but it put a smile on his face regardless. Seconds pass, and then seconds turn into minutes. Ten minutes pass before either of them even think about moving, and they only think of doing so because Shouto's stomach growls loudly.

Momo blushes in embarrassment when she hears it and immediately remembers that she'd left bentos in the fridge for this exact reason. Quickly, she stands up and pulls Shouto to his feet alongside her. He doesn't object, nor does he speak on the matter at all. Despite his ruined gym clothes, he only really pays attention to Momo. She smiles at him before grasping his hand tighter and leading him out of the gym.

There's no reason for them to be holding onto each other anymore; But there's no reason for them to let go, either. Still holding hands, the two of them briskly began walking back toward the dorms. Momo's mind is moving just as fast, if not faster than she herself is. How long had they'd been in the gym? It couldn't have been that long. At the very least, not much longer than Shouto is usually there for. If anything, they might've left sooner than he usually did. She didn't have her phone on her, so she didn't have any real way of checking. She had to assume Shouto didn't have his either, though she didn't necessarily stop to ask him.

Shouto followed her dutifully, watching the back of her head as she steered him on. He could hear her mumbling underneath her breath, causing him to think that maybe she'd picked up on the wrong parts of Midoriya's personality.

Not too long after they left the gym, they arrived back at the dorms. Momo quickly pulled Shouto through the door and shut it quietly behind her. She still wasn't sure how far off of curfew they were, so she was being cautious at the very least. If Aizawa-sensei was around, they'd definitely get in trouble for being out so late, despite the fact that it was the weekend and they didn't have classes tomorrow.

Blocking the train of thought out of her head, Momo led Shouto into the kitchen, where she finally let go of his hand-only to open the fridge and pull out one of the bentos she'd left there earlier that night. She handed it to Shouto, who took it with a bow and moved to close the fridge when the half-and-half quirk user put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. Momo turned to face him, curiosity apparent in her eyes. Shouto simply tilted his head slightly to the side before reaching into the fridge and pulling out another of the bentos she'd prepared.

"Shouto, that's-" She started to say, but he grabbed her hand again, effectively quieting her.

"You don't look like you've eaten either, Momo," He says, shutting the fridge with a push of his foot. It got dark around them once again, as they'd neglected to turn the lights on, but Momo could still see the whiteness of his hair. He pulls on her hand, directing her towards the table. "Eat with me. We can go upstairs after."

If it wasn't for the fact that most, if not all, of the lights were still off, Shouto definitely would've seen how red her face had turned at his suggestion. She tried to wave the blush off but to no avail and instead nodded her head mutely. Shouto smiled and instead lead her to the microwave now. It wouldn't take long to eat and, even if it did, it was worth it to waste that tiny amount of time.

It takes mere minutes to heat up the food and before the two know it, they're sitting next to each other at one of the many tables in the lounge, quietly eating. Shouto didn't seem to be having any problems, but Momo had to admit that it was a bit difficult to eat with one hand. In her dominant hand, she held a pair of disposable chopsticks while the other still clutched tightly onto Shouto's. They'd left their hands on the table, in plain view for anyone that would've been prowling around at the time. Luckily for them, no one was there, saving them from any possible embarrassment.

Few words were exchanged between the couple as they ate, or as they put their things away, or even as they walked on to the elevator. Once they stood together in front of the elevator, however, they found it quite difficult to even think of letting go of one another. Since they'd left the gym, they had just about refused to let go of each other's hands. It felt natural to them, surprisingly, and they didn't really want to go against what _felt_ right.

Momo is fidgeting with the edge of her shirt. Shouto is watching the elevator doors as if they'll open without them needing to press the button and usher them away from each other. The low light did wonders to hide the raging blush that just about controlled her face at this point and any other action felt like it would make her faint. Despite that, though, her eyes slowly made their way up to watch Shouto's face. He seemed so calm, a big change to the way he looked when he'd been training earlier that night. She gripped his hand, silently begging him to look at her.

As if compelled to do so, he began to turn, his eyes immediately searching for her own. Before he was facing her, though, Momo's other hand snaked up to cup his cheek, holding him in place. Quickly, so that she didn't have enough time to second-guess herself, she leaned forward to place a chaste kiss on Shouto's cheek. She's quick to pull away, though thanks to his hand still wrapped up in hers, she doesn't get very far. At the very least, she gets as far away enough so that she has space to turn her face to the floor, hiding the blush that's overcome her.

Shouto's face matches the red half of his hair, and he suddenly finds it quite hard to speak, let alone breath.

"Sh-Shouto, maybe...," Momo starts, gripping his hand again though still refusing to look up at him. "M-Maybe we should train together from now on. Th-that way, if you ever get hurt, I'll already be there."

He tilts his head at her, leaning down just enough to catch a glimpse of her eyes. She catches sight of his one ashen iris and one piercing blue one and immediately looks away in embarrassment. Shouto smiles. She's cute when she's bashful like that.

"I...can see no problems with that," He states matter-of-factly. He leans back up and his eyes fall onto their hands, specifically his own hands wrapped in white bandages. "...Thank you, for wrapping my hands, Momo. I...I must've neglected to say so earlier."

Momo finally looks back up at him, waving one hand in front of her face in an attempt to kill the heat that had climbed onto her cheeks.

"Y-you're welcome, Shouto.," She responds. After they had left the gym, the wrapping of Shouto's hands had, admittedly, slipped her mind. She was much more focused on Shouto himself now, rather than his hands; Specifically, his eyes. Momo hadn't really noticed it before, but...he had _really_ pretty eyes.

She begins to lean away, finally succumbing to the idea that she'd have to let go of Shouto's hand now; Only for him to pull her back. Surprised, her eyes jump up to his, though she quickly realizes that he's focusing on something else. Shouto pulls her hand up and, leaning down to meet it, plants a soft kiss on the back of her hand. Something akin to a whimper escapes from the back of Momo's throat as he leans back up, his hair hanging over his forehead as he continued to somewhat lean toward her. Neither of them had thought about how physically close they were to one another, but it was certainly made obvious now, as Momo could feel Shouto's hot breath against her skin. It sent goosebumps down her neck.

"...A question, before we separate," Shouto starts. Momo watches him with a curious gaze, her head tilted forward in question. For some reason, a lump seemed to form in Shouto's throat. Clearing his throat, he continued, albeit quietly. "Would you like to accompany me for lunch tomorrow?"

Momo is, admittedly, taken aback at his invitation. She fans her face a bit harder before calming herself down and trying to stand as still as possible.

"Y-yes! I-I mean, I would love to, Shouto," He manages to stutter out. Living the sheltered life she has, Momo doesn't have very much experience when it comes to things like this. In fairness, neither does Shouto, but he used to watch a lot of chick-flicks with his sister, so he's picked up on some things. Momo continues on excitedly.

"I-I know of a great cafe! I-It's pretty unknown, but I like to think it adds to the charm." Momo says, gripping Shouto's hand tighter now.

He smiles, nodding his head.

"I trust your judgment, Momo," He says, finally letting go of her hand. Instantly, the both of them miss the warmth, but neither of them reached out again. "..It sounds like it could be fun."

She nods at him, her arms pulled back to her chest. Shouto's hands rest idly at his side, itching just to reach back and take her hand in his once more. He fights the urge to do so, however, and simply bows his head a bit. Once he leans back up, he's got another soft smile on his face. That smile sends shivers down Momo's back again and she starts to notice just how much she _loves_ it when he smiles at her like that.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Momo." He says, taking half a step back. Momo's heart leaps into her throat, but she manages to reciprocate his bow and begins to step backward as well, toward her own elevator.

"L-Likewise, Shouto. I-I look forward to it." She replies. Shouto is much further away now, though both of them have neglected to turn around at all. Eventually, though, Shouto turns and Momo follows his example. They both reached their elevators, looked back at one another and waved goodbye, and then they're gone from each other's sight; But never gone from one another's minds.

* * *

 **Just a note at the end here. I'm legit just straight copying these over from the story on the Archive, where I originally started posting this story. I don't have a schedule for updates because I'm not very good at keeping those, but I promise the reposts won't take long to get out. When this one gets caught up with the original, they'll always update at the same time from there on out.**

 **Hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter will be up by Wednesday.**

 **Dantikat, out.**


	3. More than happy to watch over you

Summary: Tokoyami and Tsuyu go out into town for the day, but on the way back to the dorms, it begins to rain. Tsuyu wants to relax in the rain, but Tokoyami doesn't quite like how it feels in his feathers. Despite that, he's more than happy to just watch her.

* * *

The weather forecast for the day had not called for rain. Despite that, Tokoyami had noticed that the clouds were a bit darker than usual. Call him superstitious, but he'd taken his umbrella with him regardless. It had a useful strap that kept the umbrella against his back, meaning he didn't have to carry it around. It also meant that he had double the hands free to take a hold of Tsuyu's hands during their trip out.

The trip itself wasn't anything special. Tokoyami was eager to visit his favorite bookstore, maybe pick up some new CDs on his way back, when Tsuyu had asked if she could join him. Being who he was, Tokoyami would never deny his girlfriend anything. He agreed, maybe a bit too quickly, which Tsuyu was ecstatic about. Every time she smiled at him, Tokoyami's heartstrings were pulled in every which way direction. So, tossing on a black leather jacket, a gray sweater, black jeans, black boots, and a red scarf wrapped around his neck, Tokoyami stood at the door, his umbrella on his back, waiting for Tsuyu.

The two of them hadn't been dating long, but it already felt like it'd last forever to Tokoyami. He wouldn't say that out loud, though, in fear of jinxing it somehow, but it was true. He was oblivious to a lot of the more social aspects of living, as he wasn't the type of person to seek out unnecessary companionship. Tsuyu's bluntness, however, seemed to counteract that. She would tell him when he was thinking too hard and she was always honest with him, no matter how hard he seemed to doubt himself. Tokoyami loved her that much more for it.

"Fumikage-chan, are you ready to go?" He heard a voice ask from behind him. He had been standing in front of the door, staring out of the window in thought. Now, though, he turned to face the voice and a smile pulled at the edges of his beak. Tsuyu was wearing a pair of blue jeans, a green blouse, and a thin black jacket over that. Black sneakers and a wide-brimmed hat topped off her appearance. Once more, Tokoyami felt his heart doing cartwheels in his chest. Tsuyu's smile on top of that made it that much better.

"..I am. Are you, Tsu?" He asked after a moment. He had to admit, he was captivated. Call him a hopeless romantic, but he got happy whenever he saw Tsuyu.

She smiled at him as she walked closer and, stopping at his side, looped her arm through his.

"I am. Let's be on our way, ribbit." She pushed open the door and the two left briskly.

* * *

Tokoyami pushed the door to the bookstore open and stepped out, holding Tsuyu's hand as he did. With a curt bow to the shopkeeper, he shut the door and the two of them were on their way. They'd stopped at the music store first and had both picked out a few different CDs. Tsuyu managed to persuade Tokoyami into buying some lighter music than he usually listened to. 'All that loud music can't be good for your ears, Fumikage-chan. Try listening to some lighter things, ribbit.'. He had to admit, he'd been intrigued by some lighter things before but had never acted on the impulse. Tsuyu pushed him gently to try some things out, and he conceded in the end. 'There wasn't any harm in it', he thought in his own defense.

Now, with a bag of CDs on Tokoyami's arm and a bag of books on Tsuyu's, the two decided to return to the dorms. They'd been out for a few hours and had enjoyed themselves, though that was mostly in part to just being around one another. The trip would've been routine if Tokoyami had gone on his own and he was happy that Tsuyu had asked to join him. It took longer, but it was much more fun with her around and it meant more.

"Fumikage-chan. Why'd you bring your umbrella?" Tsuyu asked him as they walked on. He looked down at her, his head tilted to the side in question. She puts a finger to her lip before pointing at the handle of the umbrella over his shoulder. "The weather didn't call for rain. Are you worried?"

He shook his head before turning to look up at the clouds. "Not worried, per say, but cautious. The clouds have been dark all day. I thought it'd be best to be prepared, just in case it does rain." His gaze fell back to her and he smiled. She returned the smile and turned her eyes back to the road in front of them, effectively dropping the topic. Tokoyami did the same, but Dark Shadow's ranting in his head distracted him for the time being.

 **"Oooooh, what if we jinxed it?! Once you talk about it out loud, the universe will go out of its way to make it happen!"** Shadow exclaimed, making Tokoyami sigh internally.

"I don't believe that's how it works, Dark," Tokoyami replied. Despite that, he nervously glanced up at the clouds again. They hadn't seemed to have gotten any darker over the course of the day, but he couldn't be sure. He wasn't a meteorologist, after all. "And besides. I brought the umbrella for a reason. I'm prepared.".

 **"I'm just sayin'! If it starts to rain in the next ten minutes, you owe me hot chocolate when we get back!"** the childish spirit declared. Just to get him to pipe down, Tokoyami agreed hastily and then shushed Dark Shadow on the premise of: "I want to be able to enjoy this quiet moment. It won't last once we get to the dorms.".

Huffing in agitation, Dark Shadow agreed and all was silent on the street. Tokoyami sighed in content and shuffled slightly closer to Tsuyu. She took notice and smiled up at him, leaning her head down on his shoulder as they continued. A slight blush spread across his cheeks, and he looked away. A short moment later, though, his eyes jumped back to her and he smiled. The two walked in relative silence, only ever talking when they really felt like it. The truth of the matter, though, is that they didn't really want to. Both Tsuyu and Tokoyami were content with just walking together in silence. They didn't really have to do much of anything else.

Tokoyami's head immediately jumped and looked around. He seemed confused. Tsuyu tilted her head, jabbing a finger at her lip.

"Fumikage-chan? Is something wrong?" She asked him, tilting around to stand in front of him. It took him a moment, still looking around them, to answer her. Once he did, he bowed slightly, his eyes closed.

"My apologies, Tsu," He said, leaning back up a little. Her head was still tilted to the side, a motion that Tokoyami had always thought was quite cute. "..I thought I felt something, is all. It kind of felt like...someone poking the top of my head?" Tokoyami shakes his head, holding a hand over his beak. "My apologies again. That...doesn't sound like it makes much sense, once I say it out loud."

Tsuyu is still looking at him for a moment, that same, blatant look of concentration on her face. Then, without warning, she turns his head upward and looks toward the sky herself.

"It makes sense, Fumikage-chan," She says, still staring up at the dark and, now stormy, clouds. "I think you just felt a little raindrop, ribbit."

"O-Oh...," He mumbled in response. Another raindrop falls and plops just between his eyes and he sighs heavily. "Well, it seems I was right to bring my umbrella, then."

The bird-headed boy reached over his shoulder and pulled his umbrella out, though not opening it yet.

"At the very least, it doesn't seem too bad yet," Tsuyu replied, going back to her place at his side. "If it doesn't get any heavier, then we won't need the umbrella, ribbit."

He nods, smiling at her as he does. "My thoughts exactly," He adjusted the bag on his arm and hefted the umbrella up over his shoulder. "Let's hope it doesn't get worse then."

* * *

It was safe to admit that, at this point, Tokoyami would have to make some hot chocolate for Dark Shadow once they got back to the dorms.

The rain had picked up quickly. It went from a light drizzle that was barely noticeable to a downpour in just a few minutes. Tokoyami had long since opened the umbrella and now held it high over their heads. The bags jostled on their arms as they walked at a calm pace. The rain wasn't bad, just a bit spontaneous. It was soothing to the ear, at least, so that was nice enough. Thanks to having an umbrella, Tokoyami didn't have to deal with it getting in his feathers. He didn't like the rain much if he was honest.

He felt a weight lift off of his hand and his eyes followed Tsuyu as she stepped out from underneath the umbrella and into the rain. Tokoyami knew that her quirk made her frog-like, meaning the rain would feel heavenly to her. Unfortunately, he couldn't share her interest in it. He liked listening to it and watching it but hated being caught in it. His feathers were delicate, and rain matted them down horribly. It felt disgusting, so he strayed from the rain as a whole nowadays unless there was a clear barrier between it and him.

For the next minute or so, Tsuyu walked along in the rain while Tokoyami trailed behind her, now holding both bags on one arm, with his umbrella over his head. She has this smile on her face and-It's really hard for him to describe it, and so the only way to do so is-it's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. Despite what he knew of her quirk, he's surprised to see that just the rain can make her as happy as she is at that moment.

Admittedly, he is a bit upset. He loves watching her have fun and loves even more just to see her happy. It's unfortunate that he couldn't join her, though. It'd mean a bit more if he was with her...

Tsuyu turned around to face Tokoyami again. The wide smile on her face fell a little at the sight of his eyes, which seemed so clouded over with sadness for a moment that she doesn't quite know what to do with herself. He looks up and catches her staring and, with a blush on his cheeks, he waves it off.

"Don't worry. The rain does well to ruffle my feathers, Tsu. But I would be more than happy to watch over you." He tells her, shoving his hand back into the pocket of his jacket as he does. He smiles at her, but Tsuyu can't help but feel that it's a false smile; One that he's only putting on to make her happy. She sighs and, after a moment of thought, decides to take a gamble.

She takes short strides until she's standing in front of him under the umbrella. She grabs his wrist, pulling his hand out of his coat pocket, and pulls him forward, just to the edge of the umbrella. He opens his mouth to protest, but Tsuyu speaks over him.

"I understand not liking the heavy rain, Fumikage-chan. But this rain is so soft. Give it a try, please?" Tsuyu says, quietly enough so that the rain almost overpowers her voice. She loves Tokoyami-Gods, does she love him-and she has so much fun when she's with him, but the rain is the one thing that they really disagree on because of his feathers. Just as much as Tokoyami hates seeing her sad, Tsuyu hates seeing him sad too. She wants him to be happy and, since it made her happy, maybe the rain would help her do that. Despite trying to smile, for his sake, it's not as full as usual-A fact that Tokoyami picks up on.

 **"Boo you! Look at what you've done now!"** Dark Shadow begins berating him in his head, beating him up over making her look sad. **"Aren't you supposed to be a gentleman?! How could a gentleman make a beautiful woman sad?!"**.

Inwardly, he curses the specter before sighing. Even if Dark wasn't aggressively beating him for it, Tokoyami would've conceded to her anyway. If it would make her happy, he'd do it. He'd do just about anything to make sure she stayed smiling.

Slowly, with skepticism lining his actions, Tokoyami dropped the umbrella and closed it. He could immediately feel the rain in his feathers, but it wasn't heavy like he'd thought it'd be. It was soft, almost like feathers. It sounded hard when it hit the ground, but...it wasn't. It was even comfortable, to an extent. A little amazed, he held a hand up and let the rain fall into his palm. His mouth, slightly agape, as he looked around at his surroundings for the first time since it'd started raining.

It dawned then and there that Tokoyami had been taking the potential the rain had and had ignored it. It was truly beautiful. Standing in the empty street, with everything covered in a sleek shine, and the sound of the rain colliding with the ground and the buildings around him, his nerves are chilled immediately.

Tokoyami turned to face Tsuyu, who had been watching him with something akin to fascination in her eyes. The smile she wears now is wide and-In his honest opinion-is even more beautiful than the one she'd worn earlier. A bright blush runs over his dark cheeks and he turns away, a hand over his beak, embarrassed. Tsuyu laughs at his reaction, sounding a bit like a frog's croaking, and she steps over to his side again, grabbing his hand in hers. He instantly intertwines their fingers and turns to face her again. As he does, though, she leans up to plant a kiss on his cheek. His cheeks light up red again but, instead of turning away, he leans in to nuzzle his chin against the top of her head affectionately. She giggles and returns the gesture in kind.

After that, the two of them walked on in relative silence, listening mostly to the rain and just enjoying each other's company. Once in a while, one of them will say something and the other will respond, but whatever it is they talk about is overshadowed by just the calm and relaxing environment between them now. Despite enjoying the rain as much as he is, Tokoyami's feathers are starting to take the brunt of the rain's heavy downpour. His feathers droop, taking in the water like a sponge, and hang heavily over the back of his head in the most uncomfortable manner possible.

He shakes his head to try and dispel some of the water now sticking to his feathers, but only succeeds in alerting Tsuyu to his discomfort.

"Fumikage-chan? What's wrong?" She asks him, concern clear in her voice. Tokoyami shakes his head a little again before looking down and meeting her eyes.

"...The rain. It's beginning to hoard away in my feathers like I feared. They're quite heavy now." He replies, shaking his head again for effect.

Her brow falls and she tilts her head. "Oh. Do you want to open the umbrella again, ribbit?" She asks him. The bird-boy is quick to shake his head 'no' and grips her hand affectionately.

"No, it'll be fine. It'll look odd when we get back, but...maybe you could help me fix it, then?" He asks her, the blush on his cheeks betraying his calm demeanor. With that, she smiles again and may as well have lit up Tokoyami's world again.

"Yes. Definitely." She answers with a grip on his hand to accentuate her words. She turns forward again, though Tokoyami continues to watch her. Her own long, straight, hair is slick with rainwater. Compared to his mess of feathers right now, her hair looked so much better than his. As they continued to walk, he couldn't help but continue to watch her. She seemed to glow for most of their day out. Initially, Tokoyami had acquainted it with her quirk. Now, though, he was hoping he contributed to that somewhat as well...

Suddenly, Tsuyu looks up at him again, catching him staring, and tilts her head, jabbing a finger against her mouth in that cute manner that she always does.

"What're you thinking about, Fumikage-chan?" She asks him. Tokoyami blushes on the spot and immediately goes to cover his beak with his hand.

Quietly, though just loud enough for her to hear him, he mutters out: "I...I simply adore you, is all, Tsu."

A cloud of blush dusts her cheeks, but Tsuyu smiles and nuzzles up closer to him, gripping his hand a bit tighter as she does. "I'm quite fond of you as well, Fumikage-chan."

Together, the two of them then continue on their walk. The rain doesn't get any worse, but it persists and ends long after they've gotten back to the dorms. By then, however, Tokoyami and Tsuyu are comfortably cozied up together on one of the couches in the common room; A blanket wrapped around the both of them and Tsuyu's head on Tokoyami's shoulder. Dark Shadow resting on the back of the couch, an empty mug of hot chocolate dangling from his hand.

It was safe to say that, alongside the CDs and books they'd picked up, their day out had been quite productive if the slight wetness of Tokoyami's feathers were any indication of such.


	4. I couldn't ask for a better experience

Summary: Working off of their previous agreement, Shouto and Momo leave early in the morning in order to go to the cafe that Momo has suggested for them to spend some time at.

The day goes on.

* * *

"It's a bit of a hole-in-the-wall, but I promise you it's a good cafe!" Momo told him excitedly. "Despite it being kind of empty sometimes, it's quite nice!"

Shouto nodded his approval. Once he was sure, though, he pulled his hand up to flick the wide-brimmed black fedora she'd put on his head.

"What's the point of the hat?" He asked her. It covered the top of his head and the brim was wide enough to hide his face from afar. He assumed that's what it was for, anyway, and was pleased to know that he was right, once he saw Momo enthusiastically nod at him.

"So that the others can't tell it's you! Your hair is a dead giveaway, and this was all I could think of on short notice." She replied, crossing her arms as she looked him over. Admittedly, she thought the hat was quite nice. Todoroki often had an air of regality around him, though the hat put him a bit on the...cuter side of the spectrum. Momo tried to usher away the red in her cheeks and simply decided to leave her thoughts with, _"It looks good on him."_

He nodded his approval once more. Honestly, it wasn't a bad hat. It was comfortable, and Shouto thought it matched with his current attire pretty well. That, and the fact that Momo had smiled so brightly when he'd first put it on that it made him never want to take it off. The smile itself was wide enough, but she got this giddy little look on her face that he absolutely _adores._

So, with renewed pride, he dons the hat as stylishly as possible. Paired with the red button-up, sleeves rolled to his elbows, the black vest she'd given him as well, and khaki jeans, Todoroki believes he's ready to go out into the city. However well he thinks he looks, though, something in his head still tells him that he pales in comparison to Yaoyorozu.

She's wearing jeans, a white blouse with a wide black belt around her waist, black heels that make her look deviously elegant, and two or so bracelets on each wrist. She walks with the presence of a princess and it's hard for Todoroki to even _try_ and keep his eyes off of her.

Luckily, he doesn't have the time to think too hard about it. The two of them are awake and out of the dorms before seven, when they both usually woke up. Normally, Midoriya would be awake exercising at this hour but, strangely, they don't see him when they leave. Yaoyorozu has to remind herself not to count her blessings too soon, or else something could ruin their day out.

So, hand-in-hand like the night before, the two of them eagerly make their way into the city. Thankfully, they don't have to take any extended transportation, but the cafe is still a bit far on foot. It only means they really have more and more time to talk.

In fairness, though, the both of them are two very coddled teens who have no idea what they're doing. Instead of making small conversation, the two stayed rather quiet. Todoroki didn't know how to start a conversation, and neither did Yaoyorozu. The silence isn't all bad, though. It's a bit awkward from the both of them wanting to talk, but not knowing how to start, but it's comfortable too. Todoroki is a bit of a man of few words and Yaoyorozu is expressive enough as is, so she doesn't always need to talk.

The two of them are walking up an empty side-street when a gang of tabby cats dash out and run through their path. Yaoyorozu gasps and backs into Todoroki, who catches her instinctively. With wide eyes, Momo watches the cats run around in circles, playing with one another before they dash off once again and the street is quiet again. She follows them with her eyes and, upon not being able to see them anymore, she turns to look at up Todoroki. There's a wide smile on her face and her eyes are twinkling in the sunlight.

A light blush runs across Shouto's cheeks, but he smiles at her. Like before, it's small and unsure. Momo thinks it's beautiful.

A quiet meow pulls them back to the same alley that the group of tabby cats had run out of. Walking out into the light was a small white kitten with piercing blue eyes that felt oddly familiar. Despite how dark and dirty the alley seemed, the kitten's fur was pristine, except for that around its paws. Yaoyorozu squealed, a sound Todoroki never thought he'd hear, and she knelt down to watch the kitten.

It walked slowly, though it didn't look to be hurt at all. It looked at Momo out of the side of its eye, almost dramatically. Suspiciously wary of the animal, Shouto knelt down next to her. It was then that the kitten sped up and rubbed up against his leg. Eyes wide in surprise, his hand hovered over it for a mere second before he dropped it, petting the kitten softly on the head. Momo turned to watch him, surprise and awe etched on her face. The kitten was tiny. Maybe Shouto could...

He set his hand down and, as if it was reading his thoughts, the kitten jumped into his palm, snuggled up, and laid down. Carefully, he stood back up, instinctively bringing his arm closer to his chest and shielding the kitten with his other hand. Momo stood with him, a hand covering her mouth. Shouto assumed she was still looking at the cat but, when he looked up, her eyes were trained on him instead.

Todoroki tilted his head in question at her. What could she possibly be staring at? He looked down and noticed that Momo had her phone in her hand. He knew some of the other girls liked taking pictures of cute animals they saw in the city, but could she have moved that fast?

Anxiety started to build up, so he shifted, keeping the kitten in his hand, and sighed.

"Momo? Are you alright?" He asked, for lack of better words. She quickly started to nod and then, taking the hand away from her mouth, she pointed at him shakily.

"Th-that was..oh my god," She muttered out, pressing the back of her hand against her forehead. "That was the most adorable thing I've ever seen, Shouto. I-I can't even comprehend that!"

Clearly confused, he tilts his head at her again.

"What are you talking about, Momo?" He asks, clarification clearly needed. Instead of talking, though, Yaoyorozu just shoved her phone in his direction, pressing it into his hand.

"I-I can't say anything. Look at the picture, please." She answered, pressing it further into his empty hand and curling his fingers around it. No less confused than he was ten seconds ago, Todoroki lifts the phone up to his face, weirdly so he doesn't disturb the kitten now in the crook of his arm, and inspects the picture still open on its screen.

He sees himself, knelt down on the ground. His hair is waving in the wind, but the wide-brimmed hat on his head does well to keep it contained. Like usual, his eyes are half-lidded, his heterochromatic eyes facing downward. Once it gets to his mouth, though, the picture is weird.

Todoroki is clearly staring down at the cat in front of him and it seems the cat is staring back up at him with the same look. Looking closer, his eyes look a little wider and his pupils a bit smaller. He has a smile on his face. It's small but very obvious, though Shouto doesn't even remember smiling.

There's some kind of wonder in his eyes, looking down at the kitten in the picture, almost as if he can't believe that it's so small. Much like an excited child, it looks like Todoroki just couldn't keep it contained.

Now, he understands her reactions. Todoroki's face is as red as the left side of his hair and he silently pushes the phone back to Momo's hands. Dammit. She was completely right about the picture. It was goddamn _adorable._

As if it could understand him perfectly, the kitten mewed in his arms and snuggled closer to his chest, prompting another short squeal from Momo. Shouto looked up at her, a questioning look in his eyes.

"What do we do now?" He asked her, shuffling on his feet. "I don't think the cafe we'd meant to go to will let me bring a kitten in."

That seemed to jar Momo from her thoughts enough for the kitten to be pushed a bit further back. She brought a hand up to hold her chin and tilted her head downward, thinking. With his hands full, Todoroki couldn't really mimic her movements, but he did fall into a lapse of thinking. After a short moment, Momo snapped her fingers.

"Don't worry! I'm certain I can work something out, once we get to the cafe." She told him. Having no reason not to trust her, Todoroki nodded and stepped away from the entrance to the alley. Momo followed and began to lead the way again, though she neglected one specific thing.

Before she could get too far away, Todoroki shuffled the kitten into his other arm and reached out to take Momo's hand in his. She froze immediately and turned to face him, that same bashful look on her face that she so often got when she was around him. In return, he smiled at her. At the same time, the kitten in his arm mewed cutely and pulled Momo back to the present.

"Lead the way, Momo," Shouto said once he'd stepped up next to her. With blush still clouding her face, Momo nodded and began to walk again. With their hands joined, Todoroki was prevented from falling too far behind her. Even if they weren't holding hands, though, he'd want to be as close to her as possible.

She was like the sun to him, after all. Momo really did light up his world.

* * *

"I'll be honest, I hadn't pegged you as a cat person, Momo." Todoroki answered, to which Momo giggled.

They'd been walking for a couple of minutes mostly in silence. Unlike before, though, this silence was only in part to Yaoyorozu wanting to watch the kitten in Shouto's arms. The few times they did talk, it happened to be about the cat, or about animals in general.

"I like dogs as well, but they can be really excitable." She countered, eyes straying down to the kitten for a moment before going back to Todoroki. He leaned his head in her direction, sort of pointing at her without his hands.

"So can you," He said simply. Momo started to protest, but he shook his head and continued. "Once something has your attention, you focus on it with admirable determination. I like seeing that look in your eyes. It shows that you really have something to strive for."

Momo blushed and looked away, causing a smile to slip over Shouto's face. He gripped her hand and she returned the gesture.

"Y-you have some kind of way with words, Shouto." She mumbled to him. Todoroki shrugged as much as he could. The kitten in his arms had fallen asleep.

"It's easy to tell the truth," He replied simply. Once again, he shuffled his arms uncomfortably. He turned to Momo again. "Why do you think the cat came to me?"

Yaoyorozu shrugged. "Maybe it's because you have this air about you?"

At his curious look, she elaborated. "W-well, it's very...c-calming to be around you. Your presence helps me keep a clear mind when I need it. Maybe the kitten senses it too."

After that, they walked on in silence for a few minutes. Momo's face burned with blush and the only thing she could think of was: _"Why did I say that? Gods, that must've sounded so weird!"_

She felt a tugging on her hand and Momo turned to face Todoroki, only to find him leaning closer and closer already. Her face turned even redder than before, but she fought herself and didn't move away. Quickly, Shouto kissed her on the cheek and then leaned back up. Already, the cat began to mew in protest from where it was pressed against his chest.

"Thank you, Momo," He said to her, quietly. Then, he tugged on her hand, ushering her forward. "Let's go. We can't miss out on the cafe, can we?"

* * *

"When you said it was 'a hole-in-the-wall', I didn't think you'd meant it literally." Todoroki pointed out. Momo looked away, a bashful look in her eyes, before moving to separate their hands for the time being.

"I-I mean...I-It was an accurate description, was it not?" She responded, finally pulling their hands apart. She made a sound of disapproval in the back of her throat but quickly looked back up to Shouto. "Can you wait here a moment? I want to make sure we can bring the kitten in with us."

Todoroki nodded, shuffling on his feet. The kitten had woken up and taken perch on his left shoulder. Neither of them had a clue about how it stayed balanced, but the kitten didn't seem to notice. If it did, it simply didn't care about where it stood. Yaoyorozu took a moment to look at the white fluff-ball, smiled, and then did a complete one-eighty and marched into the cafe.

It was sat between two larger buildings, making it look tiny in comparison. Most of the front wall was glass, including the door, that was studded with a diamond design and painted over with a pale brown color, making it hard to actually see through. Shouto could really only make out a counter on the left inside of the building. It had pale pink borders arcing around and through the brown shades of the building. On the door was a black sign; A coffee cup with the words _'Espresso~Love'_ written across it. Despite the fact that he hadn't even stepped foot inside the place yet, it already seemed to instill some kind of calm over him. Todoroki unconsciously relaxed his muscles and sighed.

Before he knew it, Yaoyorozu was coming back out of the cafe with that same wide, beautiful, smile on her face. Eagerly, she grabbed his hand again and began to pull him into the cafe.

"Come on, Shouto! I got us a good table where we can keep the kitten with us while we're here." She told him. He nodded his acceptance, though she couldn't see his face, and followed her into the cafe.

The inside was painted similarly to the outside. The area just in front of the door was dark brown wood, but it quickly blended into a pink carpet that ran across the entire floor. The walls, dark brown planked wood, was adorned with bookshelves of varying sizes and pink picture frames with random people in it. Todoroki noticed one particular picture that had a woman—wearing a brown apron, which suggested she worked at the cafe or owned it—and their very own Aizawa-sensei. He had that same deadpan look on his face, but something was different about him. Shouto couldn't decide on what it was.

Yaoyorozu led him past the counter in the back left, past all the empty tables that seated two or four people, and pulled him behind the large bookshelf at the back. Pushed up against the back window was a table just like the others. It had two chairs, woven metal with comfortable looking pink pillows on the seats. The entire back window defied Shouto's expectations. Given that the cafe was small and seemingly pushed in between two other buildings, he'd assumed the other three sides of the building would be disappointments. He was tired of being wrong about such small things.

Behind the building, there was a garden. Not just a tiny garden, though, it took up as much space as the building itself. Stairs lead down into the center where circles and rows upon rows of different kinds of flowers arced out to the edges of the space. There was a white gazebo in the middle, housing four benches, each one facing different directions with their backs to one another. Trees were few and far between, but the ones that were there were white with pink blossoms emerging in the branches.

Shouto had long since sat down, Momo sitting across from him and watching his reactions, and was staring out the window with awe in his eyes. It didn't make any sense to him. The space didn't even seem big enough to house a garden of such magnitude, but yet...here it was.

He spotted tables outside, similar to the one they sat at now. Were people allowed to eat outside? He was suddenly hit with a want to get outside more.

"So...," Momo started and Shouto's eyes jumped back to her, the awe still there. Was it because of her? Her cheeks suddenly lit up red with blush and she struggled to get the rest of her sentence out. "..h-how do you like it? I-I tend to come to this place a lot a-and...I thought you'd like it."

His voice refused to work for a moment. The garden was amazing and it had temporarily caught his attention. But Momo...that bashful look that he loved to see, the light blush that dusted her cheeks, and the quiet, whispering, sound of her voice...she was beautiful.

"It's...It's perfect," He told her, his voice just as quiet, if not quieter, than hers. The kitten on his shoulder meowed softly and jumped onto the table, landing gracefully, to lie down. Todoroki adjusted the hat on his head. "I couldn't ask for a better experience than this one."

The blush on Yaoyorozu's face grew, but the wide smile that spread across her lips was enough to betray her embarrassment.

"Th-Thank you, Shouto...sh-should we order now? Th-they have very good tea here!" She sputtered out. To both their surprise, Todoroki chuckled. It was a deep sound, but it was quiet; Reserved, even. With a confident smile, he nodded.

"Sure," He answered, leaning on the table. Yaoyorozu's hands were on the table, clasped together, and he reached forward with one hand and laid it atop hers. "What do you recommend, Momo?"


	5. Together

Summary: After the movie is put on, about an hour in, Izuku falls asleep. Ochako, taking pride in how comfortable he must be around her for him to fall asleep so easily, spends more time watching him than she does watching the movie.

The night continues.

* * *

Only about an hour or so into the movie, Izuku is already asleep. His head had fallen, resting gently on Ochako's shoulder. His snoring was light and, if it was evident by how red Ochako's already bright cheeks were, pretty cute.

Before she'd even realized it, she'd looped an arm over his shoulders and buried her hand in his messy green curls, rubbing and massaging his scalp while she tried, and failed, to keep her attention on the movie. Normally, she'd never let anything get between her and Finding Nemo, but Deku proved to be cuter than even the cutest movie she's ever seen.

'I never really noticed it before,' Ochako thinks to herself, her attention still jumping between adorable fish and her adorable boyfriend. But his hair is really soft. I wonder if he'd let me do this when he's awake?'.

She blushed to herself, trying desperately to shoo the thoughts away but to no avail. Her hand didn't stop either.

'I-I mean, it's not like I haven't done it before, right?'. Her hand is on her chin now, thinking much too hard about much too simple of a matter. 'I-It's where my hands go whenever we make out! H-He's gotta be used to it at this point...'. She thought. It only took a moment for her hand to freeze and for her face to light up even brighter. Instinctively, her hands go to her face to cover it and hide her embarrassment, despite the fact that no one can see her. But, with her hand looped around Izuku's shoulders, all she manages to do is pull on him, jostling him in his sleep.

Izuku stirs, lifting his head a fraction of an inch, and looks around a bit. It takes him a moment to completely catch his bearings, but once he does and sits up, the first thing he sees is Ochako, her knees pulled to her chest and her hands over her face. Any thought of himself is launched out of the window and is instead replaced by thoughts of whatever could be plaguing her.

"A-ah, Ochako! Are you okay? Why is your face red? Do you need anything? I-I could go run out for something right now if you ne-" He was immediately shushed by Ochako, turning and pushing one hand up against his mouth. With her face now open, at least partly, he can see the furious red blush that's spread across her cheeks.

"N-n-no! I-I'm fine, Deku. Really!" She tries to assure him. Still covering her face with one hand, though, it's pretty hard to convince him that she's alright. After a minute of fumbling with her words, she slumps knowingly. "R-Really. M-my thoughts just...t-took a turn is all."

Izuku's eyebrows raise in question and he leans forward. He grabs her hand, the one covering his mouth, and holds it between both of his own and looks her in the eye.

"Took a turn? What do you mean?" He asks her, nearly whispering. He's quiet enough that she has to lean forward to hear him.

She squirms, pushing both her palms into her cheeks again and hiding her face. From how close they are, Izuku can hear her whimper: "Nooooo, 'yer gonna laugh at me...,"

At that, he chuckles. Taking both of her hands in his own, and carefully not touching the pads on her fingertips, he pulled her hands away from her face and planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Why would I do that?" He asked, tilting his head questioningly. With her eyes trained on the small bit of floor between them, she squirms again and pushes her head against his chest so that she doesn't have to look at him. Seamlessly, his hands loop around her back and hold her a bit closer and he tucks his nose into her hair, inhaling the scent of her shampoo. He snorts a little, though, which elicits a giggle from Ochako. Snuggling against his chest, she pushes herself around until she's just about sitting in his lap. Neither of them really think about it, though, because she's a bit too busy laughing at him.

Izuku shook his head, though the soft smile on his face betrayed the motion. He tilted his head up and rested his chin amongst her curls.

"You're such a dork," He says quietly, prodding her to talk. She willingly takes the bait, though a bit too eagerly. She sits up fast and shoves a finger against his nose, nearly touching him with the pad on it.

"You're a bigger one!" She retorts. Crossing her arms and smiling smugly, she seemed so pleased with herself. He laughs and shrugs.

"Maybe," He replies before looping his arms around her back again, pulling her head back to his chest. "But I'm your dork."

He doesn't need to see her to know that her face has turned red again; Mostly because his has done the same, but that was beside the point. The two of them it quietly for a moment, in which Ochako wrapped her arms around him as well, before Izuku tried asking her again.

"What was bothering you, Ochako?" He asks, and then quickly adds: "I-I won't laugh, I promise."

Ochako squirms against his chest again before sighing deeply. Taking a deep breath, she sits up again. Literally sitting in his lap at this point, the both of them are eye-level now.

"W-well, when you were asleep, I-I was...running my hands through your hair. A-and it was really soft, s-so I wanted to do it more, like...e-even when you were awake, but I didn't know if you'd let me!" She moved her hands slightly as she spoke, reminiscent of a certain blue-haired class rep they were fond of. "M-my defense was that...I-I'd already kind of done it before? B-but, the uhm...the c-context of it was a bit different than usual."

At Izuku's curious nodding, she continued.

"I-It went from just wanting to touch your hair more to...uhm...th-thinking about making out with you more," She put her hands up, palms facing outward before he could even think of a response. "B-Because my hands are usually in your hair when we do! S-so...I-I thought you'd be used to it...b-by now, I mean."

His cheeks have turned completely red and his eyes are wide with shock and...pride? Quickly, he looks around to find the TV remote. Finding Nemo had been playing the entire time they'd been talking and the background noise was starting to get to him.

Finding it on the floor, he picked it up and paused the movie. With the room suddenly falling silent, he sighed happily and turned back to Ochako. Her face was turned toward the wall and her hands were palm-down on the floor. He didn't want to think about her accidentally giving the entire dorm building zero gravity, even if she couldn't actually do it.

Fanning his own face for a second, he reached forward and grabbed both her hands. She jumped a little but didn't turn to look at him until he started talking.

"W-well, I like that you like my hair. I-I mean, I never really put too much thought into it before...b-but it makes me happy to know that you like it," He admitted. "And...i-if it makes you feel any better...I-I think I like your cheeks more than you like my hair," He laughed awkwardly, which led to him coughing into his closed hand as he followed suit and looked away from her. "Th-they're really cute, Ochako. P-plus, they're very soft...I-I like holding onto them when we...y-y'know...kiss all the time."

Ochako's cheeks turn red again, but this time she's more flattered than embarrassed. Since she didn't know what to say, she reached out and pulled him into a soft hug. He chuckled at her again, though noticeably more nervous about it this time around. He hugged her back, though, and when she pulled away from him, he darted forward to capture her in a soft kiss.

She might as well have melted into him, her hands gripping his upper arms just to keep herself up. Unconsciously, though, her hands drifted toward his head, burying themselves in his green curls once at again. As for Izuku, he fared no better. First, his hands had gripped her waist. Barely a second in, though, one hand drifted up her front and settled on her cheek.

The kiss didn't last long, but it didn't really need to. Once they both pull back, as red in the face as ever, Ochako pulls her arms back and rubs the back of her neck. Izuku tilts his head in question, not understanding what was so funny.

"I-It's like the first thing on your mind was to hold my cheek, eheheh." She commented nervously. Astounded, Izuku pointed a finger at her.

"M-me?! Y-your hands immediately went to my hair! Y-you're just as g-guilty as me!" He retorted. Ochako giggles, trying to keep her laugh in, but fails and starts laughing. Soon after, Izuku joins her. Neither of them are really thinking about the fact that it's well after curfew now. Honestly, neither of them are really thinking at all. They're just...enjoying the moment.

Somehow, during their fits of laughter, Ochako had fallen forward and nuzzled her face into the crook of Izuku's neck, who adjusted himself accordingly, whereas he only had one arm looped lazily over her shoulder.

Ochako yawned, which tickled Izuku's neck and made him giggle.

"I'm not gonna lie...," She mumbled before sitting up a little, though refusing to take her head away from where she sat. She yawned again before continuing. "..I'm a little tired now."

Izuku nodded and made an incomprehensible sound of agreement. After a moment of hesitation, he started to try and get up to leave so that he could get back to his room. For the second time that night, though, Ochako stopped him.

"..Mmmm, no, stay the night, Deku." She told him, pulling herself up to look at him. She had a look in her eye that said she'd be sad if he'd turned her down. Izuku, while clearly nervous, shrugged and agreed. He wouldn't wanna make her sad, now would he?

"O-okay, Ochako," He said, pulling the both of them up to sit down on her bed. She smiled tiredly and threw her arms around him in a weak, but caring, hug. He laughs, but there's nervousness in his voice. "W-we should hurry up. If Aizawa-sensei decides to stroll through the halls about now, we could really get in trouble."

The mention of their teacher catching them seemed to jostle her awake. She quickly sits up and nods furiously; So much so that Izuku is starting to worry that her head will just fly off.

"Y-Yeah! I-I'll go change in the bathroom, okay? Wait for me here." She told him. Without waiting for a reply, she got up and dashed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Izuku sat on the bed, staring at the door for a moment after she'd run off. It dawned on him that she was expecting them to sleep in the same bed. They were in high school! Sure, they wouldn't be doing anything, but still! It was the principle of the matter! The others already thought they'd be doing something in her room. If any of them found out he'd stayed in her room overnight, they'd never hear the end of it.

He was already here, though, and if he left while Ochako was in the bathroom, he'd feel horrible about it. She'd probably be sad. He definitely hated making her sad. If he could help it, he'd make sure she was happy. If that meant sleeping with her—In her room, he clarified to himself—, then he was more than happy to do it.

Steeling himself, Izuku stood up and went about changing. He didn't have a change of clothes and he definitely wasn't going to go to sleep in his underwear, so he settled for just taking off the hoodie he'd been wearing. It was a bit bulky, and the sleeveless undershirt that he wore underneath was good enough, as opposed to just taking it all completely off. He contemplated taking his pants off, too, but quickly ran away from that thought the second it surfaced. This was good enough, he hoped.

So, left to just wait for her, he sat down on her bed and tried to mentally prepare himself. Gods knew how hard that would be.

'You can do this! All you're doing is sleeping in the same bed, what could go wrong?' She told herself. Standing in front of her bathroom mirror, Ochako was attempting-And failing-to hype herself up and get prepared. She'd already changed into her regular pair of sleep shorts-which she now told herself were too short-and a black, spaghetti-strap top that she often wore under her clothes.

Her cheeks were redder than usual, though that was most likely due to how she'd been smacking herself on the cheeks to try and steel herself. She kept failing at doing so, but she was nothing if not persevering.

'One more time!' she thought before standing up as straight as possible and looking at herself with deadly focus in the mirror. 'You can definitely do it! Go out there and sleep with him!'.

It took a moment for it to hit her, but once it did, she almost fell over, covering her face as it turned a peculiar shade of red. Honestly, with how much blood was constantly rushing to her head, she was surprised she hadn't fainted yet.

'No, just...agh!'. She nearly collapsed, holding her face out of sheer instinct. One more time, she turned toward herself in the mirror. She could still see the redness in her own face, but she ignored it.

"Alright, Ochako," She started, whispering to herself, lest she get loud enough for Izuku to hear her. "You can and you WILL do this. Walk out there right now and lay down in your bed and go to sleep!" She particularly left out that she'd be sleeping in the same bed as Izuku, but it was mainly for her confidence. Before she could stop herself, she gathered up the clothes she'd taken off and walked back into her room.

All of her confidence left her as soon as she saw Deku. He was already laying down on her bed, looking as comfortable as ever. He'd taken off his hoodie, which she realized was much bulkier on him than she'd thought, but left his pants on-though he did roll the legs of them up a bit, just so they'd be a bit more comfortable.

He was lying on the blankets, with his head on her pillow and his hands behind his head. His eyes were closed, but she could see his eyes moving behind his eyelids. Quietly, she made her way across the room and stuffed away her clothes before walking back to the bed and sitting down on it lightly. The slight shift in weight caused Izuku to sit up and look over at her. His eyes were a bit red and she could tell that he was close to asleep.

"Hey..," A yawn interrupted him as he scooted over to make space for her which she eagerly scooted into. "..We should...probably set an early alarm. So the others don't see me leave in the morning,"

Ochako nodded and began to slip under her blankets. Watching her, his face flushed with red, he began to follow suit, but really slowly. She had a hard time focusing on him as he spoke, due to the fact that she came to a startling realization: Izuku was a lot more well-built than she'd thought he was. Sure, he was lean, but she and all the other girls had only ever just said that he was skinny. Seeing him now, though, in the tight muscle shirt that he wore, Ochako could clearly point out all the rippling muscles in his arms, back, and his chest.

Her anxiety skyrocketed and she had half a mind to jet from the bed now and give up on the whole thing. She was too far in to quit now, though. So, steeling herself as best as she possibly could, she simply tried not to focus on it so she could just...sleep with him—Not like that, though! Clearly not that way! Just regular sleeping like regular people do!

She decided to do the only thing that she could for the moment: Setting the alarm. She knew that Izuku usually woke up around six, and she herself woke around 7:30. She set the alarm for five and shot Deku a thumbs up. He smiled-Gods, he didn't deserve to have such a cute smile-and let his head fall back against her pillow. Tentatively, Ochako climbed back into bed next to him, though she didn't lay down yet. She'd need to turn the lights off first.

"I set it for five," She tells him, sitting with her knees against her chest. "Is that alright?"

Deku nodded, that smile still on his lips as he looks up at her from where his head rests on the pillow. "Definitely. It'll give me the time to get to my room, shower, and then get out for my morning exercises."

Ochako giggles a little. "We stay up this late and you still want to exercise in the morning?" She asked him, amazed. She shouldn't be, though. If anyone knew how hard he worked, it'd be her. His face gets a little red, but he doesn't defend himself. Of course, he knows she's just joking.

Quickly, so she could just get it over with, Ochako darts from the bed and shuts the light off. In the darkness of her room, despite her memory of it, it gets hard to find her bed. Once she does, though, she's surprised to see that Izuku has leaned up from the bed to help guide her. His eyes must've been better than hers in the dark, seeing as he's guiding her into the bed without a problem.

Holding one of her hands, whereas the other is resting against her waist, he pulls her down onto the bed and helps her find her way under the blankets. Ochako flushes with embarrassment and hopes that his eyes aren't good enough to see it.

"Thanks," she mumbles after the both of them finally got under the blankets together.

The only thing she can really try to describe it as is awkward. The both of them are as stiff as boards and neither of them are talking. Straining her ears, Ochako starts to think that Deku is barely breathing. She sighs aloud and watches him jump out of sheer nervousness. Her embarrassment builds and she sits up, waving her hands animatedly as if he could actually see her.

"A-Ah, I'm sorry!" She apologizes, though she doesn't really know what for at this point. It's better than saying nothing.

He sits up alongside her, doing the same. Even in the dark, she can see the red of his face. Gods, does that mean he can see hers?!

"N-no! D-don't worry, I'm sorry, th-this is just...," He goes off, tapering out and trying to find his words. "I-I don't know what I'm doing...," He finally admitted. Ochako just about laughed, to which she had to bring a hand to her mouth to stop it. It took her a moment, but she smiled sweetly at him. There was no way of telling if he could see her, but she was hoping he could.

"A-ah..me neither. B-but that's fine!" She brought her hands together excitedly and whispered as loud as she could, out of fear of getting caught by Aizawa. "L-learning is fun, right? So we can learn together!"

Deku was quiet for a while. Ochako was close to leaning forward and trying to find him before he made a noise, to which she could assume meant he was nodding.

"Y-yeah! We operate by our rules, right?" He asked her, though it was more of a statement than anything. Ochako giggled and began to lie down again, dragging him down with her.

"Yeah! So, c'mon. We can't learn properly without sleep, right?" She says after she finally gets down to the bed. She scoots closer to him and nuzzles her face into his chest. "Can't learn without proper rest! What would All Might say?"

Laughing alongside her, he slowly lied down as well, his arm instinctively flinging itself around her waist.

"Mhm," He replies, though he sounds like he's thinking something over. Ochako sits, silent, and waits for him while he does. Once he does talk again, though, it spurs her into laughter again. "Maybe I could skip my workout in the morning. S-sleep is really important, r-right?"

Once she's done laughing, Ochako poked him in the chest and made a show out of turning her back to him and scooting against him.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you just wanted to stay in bed with me." She teased him, despite how warm her face is now. Luckily, though, he can't see her, so she doesn't have to worry about it.

"Th-that's not it!" He protested, but his argument fell on deaf ears as Ochako pretended not to listen to him. It took him a minute to get over it and once he did, Deku sighed and stuck his nose into her hair, his arm wrapping around her a bit more warmly.

It didn't take long for him to fall asleep, and for Ochako to follow suit. At the very least, though, the two of them were thinking the same thing before they did eventually doze off.

 _"Why was I so worried?"_

Waking up the next morning, though, they wouldn't remember that, and neither would they be able to remember even thinking it. All they could think of was how well they had slept. _Together._


	6. Anything for you

Summary: After finally finishing up her schoolwork for the break, Tooru is set to relax for the rest of her life. In order to help his girlfriend do that, Ojiro decides to take her up onto the roof so they can do some star-gazing together.

* * *

"Aaaah, finally! I've got the rest of the week to relax!" Tooru exclaimed, walking in a falling across the couch, and by relation Ojiro, who just so happened to be sitting there. She immediately cuddled her way in his stomach and his tail whipped around to wrap around her and keep her against him. He hummed in response, trying to focus on the book in his hand. He himself had finished his work a day after Midoriya and the others, so he'd really just been waiting for her at this point.

Ojiro felt Hagakure shift and move until she was sitting sideways in his lap, using his tail as a sort of wall to lean against so she didn't fall backward. He blushed, which he tried not to show, as he felt her head nuzzle up against the underside of his chin. After a minute or so of her doing that, he sighed and let his book fall closed. He hadn't been able to read it anymore, anyway.

At this point, he was used to all of her affectionate mannerisms. Usually, it was reserved for when they were alone because Tooru got embarrassed easily. But it was obvious that Tooru was much too excited about finishing her work to care.

Tokoyami and Tsuyu were the only other ones in the lounge, thankfully, and the two of them were open-minded enough not to judge either of them.

Hagakure leaned up and kissed Ojiro on the cheek, forcing his blush to grow even more. Despite that, though, he smiled and turned to face her.

"You seem excited, Tooru." He stated simply. Even if he couldn't see her, he could practically feel the excitement running off of her She bounced against him, as bubbly as ever.

"Yeah! I mean, I don't usually finish my work so early! This must mean I'm getting better, right?" She replied, making Ojiro chuckle softly.

"Mhm, of course," He told her, pushing his book off to the side. He leaned into the couch and felt Tooru do the same, leaning against him. "It means you've put hard work in and you've tried hard. You deserve that, Tooru."

The invisible girl laughed and snuggled closer to him, tightly wrapping her arms around his chest. His tail coiled around her back, bringing her closer.

"Mmm. Thanks, Ojiro. I couldn't have done any of it without you." She mumbled against his chest. Mashirao laughed and let his head fall against the back of the couch where the two of them lapsed into a comfortable silence.

Mashirao could hear Asui's throaty, frog-like, laugh from across the room and he had a sneaking suspicion that it was directed at them. It made him blush a little, but he was stoic enough not to really show it. Tooru, on the other hand, laughed with her and nuzzled the top of her head underneath Ojiro's chin. Her hot breath against his throat made him quiver, but he sighed through it and shut his eyes. He was inclined to believe that Hagakure did the same, but he couldn't really tell. She was invisible, after all.

The quiet lasted another ten minutes before Ojiro heard a hum of acknowledgment that he immediately pegged as coming from Tokoyami. He cracked an eye open to see the jet-black hero standing at the window. Tsuyu was sitting on the other couch, looking over the back at him with her finger pushed against her lip. Tokoyami turned back around and let the curtains fall shut.

"The stars are out in full tonight," He answered to their questioning looks. Tsuyu nodded and let herself fall back into the couch. "They don't usually come out in the city like this. It must be a good night for it, I suppose."

Asui croaked in reply, to which Tokoyami chuckled at. He rejoined her on the couch soon enough, and she fell against him comfortably.

Ojiro let his eyes fall shut again, though it only lasted a moment as Tooru shifted and sat up quickly, her palms on his chest.

"Wait, really?!" She asked, incredulously. Tokoyami nodded in response and the invisible girl began to bounce in excitement. "Ooo! I haven't seen the stars in full before! I've only ever lived in the city, so I never really got the chance."

Ojiro sat up, rubbing his chest absent-mindedly, and quirked an eyebrow at her. "Really? Well, that makes sense. I used to live closer to the country, so I saw them all the time."

Tooru turned back to him and crossed her arms over her chest. Ojiro assumed she was pouting, which was only confirmed when he heard a soft; "Luckyyy..."

He chuckled in response and sat up, lazily resting his hands on her lap. From her posture, he could tell she was looking away from him.

"Do you want to go out and see them then, Tooru?" He asked her. She shifted, though he continued through it. "We could go up to the roof. The stairwell isn't too hard to find."

At that, she turned back quickly and leaned so close, Ojiro could feel her breath on his skin.

"Really? You'd take me up there?" She asked, her voice low and laced with some form of insecurity. Ojiro smiled and nodded.

"Of course I would. It's cold out there, though, so you might wanna put on some warm clothes." He told her in response. Currently, she was just wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top. Despite the cold outside, it was still heated inside the building, and sometimes it was a bit too hot.

Enthusiastically, she nodded her head and was off of his lap in an instant.

"Alright! I'll go change and meet you in front of your room, okay?" Without waiting for him to answer, Tooru dashed off toward the girls' side of the building. Mashirao waited for a moment before sighing and standing up. Waving at the other happy couple in the room, he left the lounge and headed to the elevator in order to change. Keeping Tooru waiting wasn't something he wanted to do, especially with how excited she seemed. And besides; He wanted to see the stars too.

* * *

"Do you know any constellations, Oji-kun?" Tooru asked him. The door to the stairwell shut quietly as the two moved onward.

"I know a few of them. I wasn't good at memorizing them, though." He responded meekly. The both of them had changed; Tooru into jeans, a thick sweater, and gloves, woolen socks, and a pair of slippers. Ojiro wore jeans, a big black coat, and sneakers. He had a long bag, shut with a zipper that ran down its length, over his shoulder and two blankets, rolled up and stuffed under his arm.

"I read about a few of them, but I wouldn't be able to find them myself. I really only know the big and little dippers." Tooru responded, a hint of embarrassment in her voice. Despite that, she waved it off and continued excitedly: "So, what's in the bag, Oji-kun?"

Ojiro smiles and shrugs, looking at her as he pushed open the door to the roof. "It's a surprise."

Tooru crossed her arm and pouted, making a little hmph! sound as she did. Taking it a bit further, she turned and playfully smacked his arm. Without missing a beat, Ojiro swooped his tail around and ran the fluff at the end of it against the underside of Tooru's chin, causing her to laugh and push it away; Only to grab it and hug it close to her chest right after. Smiling, Mashirao quickly shut the door to the roof behind them and walked out into the middle of it, dropping one of the blankets on the ground and starting to spread them out. He dropped the bag over his shoulder on the ground, with the other blanket still rolled up next to it. Tooru, however, had her eyes stuck on the sky already.

Was...was there supposed to be that many in the sky? Sure, she'd seen a couple here or there if she was out late enough, but tonight...it was like the sky was on fire. Little specks of white were everywhere, shining brilliantly together and making the entire sky light up wonderfully. Bashfully confused, Tooru continued to stare out at the sky, even as Ojiro led her to the blanket on the floor. Once she finally sat down, she immediately fell onto her back, staring up at the star in wonder. It dawned on her, though not enough to take her attention away from the night sky, on how soft the blanket was. She wasn't exactly tired, but Tooru really felt that she could fall asleep at the moment.

Mashirao had moved on already and was quietly pulling down the zipper on the bag he'd carried with him. Once it was open, he stopped for a moment to turn around and look over at Tooru. She always had so much energy, running excitedly and bouncing up and down as if she had boundless energy. Now, though, she was sitting so still and so quietly that Ojiro would've thought she'd fallen asleep already. Nevermind the fact that he couldn't see her, Ojiro was happy enough at the fact that he could do things like this for her.

Since she was so distracted by the stars, she paid no attention to Ojiro over on the side, setting up his telescope as quickly as he could. Once he has it set up completely, he steps back from it and sighs. He'd like to use it, but instead, Mashirao decided to relax instead. He did so by walking over and laying down on the blanket next to Tooru. Immediately, she reached down and grabbed his hand, holding it between the both of hers and keeping it over her chest. He hummed in acknowledgment and gripped her hand in response.

Together, they sat in silence, just staring up at the stars. Despite how many times he'd seen them as a kid, they still occasionally took his breath away. The fact that something so simple could be so amazing is what really drove it home for Ojiro. Sighing, Ojiro slightly tilts his head in Tooru's direction.

"How do you like the stars, Tooru?" He asks, his voice a whisper that only she'd hear.

It took her a moment to find her words because, even after watching them for the handful of minutes that she'd had been, she was still awestruck. Tooru hummed a little before speaking, her voice coming out as quiet, if not quieter, than Ojiro's. "...They're beautiful, Ojiro. Th-thanks for bringing me up here."

A small smile formed on Ojiro's lips as he shut his eyes and nodded. "Anything for you."

Hagakure was invisible, meaning she didn't have to worry about Ojiro seeing the blush on her face. She did anyway, though, and recoiled. Sitting up, she covered her cheeks with her hands and giggled, though she's clearly embarrassed to some extent. She poked Ojiro in the cheek, causing him to lazily open one of his eyes.

"Y-you cheeseball! You can't just hit me with something like that!" She complained, the giggle still ringing clear in her voice. Despite that, though, Mashirao can hear the happiness in there too. His smile grew a bit wider and he laughed, sitting up as he did.

"It's true, though," He responds before swiping the fluff of his tail across her arm. It's then that he jabs a thumb over his shoulder, pointing at the telescope he'd set up earlier. "If you're done relaxing, for now, I brought that with me. I could show you some constellations if you want."

Tooru jumps, though she remains on the blanket, excitedly and nods her head. A moment after, though, she tilts it in question.

"Wait, I never saw that in your room. Where'd you keep it?" She asked, crawling over to him as she did.

Ojiro shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Under the bed. Where else is it supposed to go?"

He couldn't really fathom why Tooru suddenly began laughing as hard as she did. Hearing the mirth in her voice, though, made him smile regardless. He walked her over to the telescope and put it up to her face for her to adjust to her leisure, and then went through explaining how it worked and which dial did what. Once he was certain he'd gotten through all of it, Ojiro began to move the scope around for her, pointing it up to the night sky at the different constellations that he could remember. Tooru bubbled with excitement each time he showed her another one, which made his chest clench happily.

Neither of them thought about the fact that Aizawa-sensei would be making his rounds in the halls sometime soon. The only thing they could really think about was spending time alone, with only the night sky and its stars as their company.


	7. Katsuki Bakugo's Biggest Weakness

Summary: Prepared with snacks, games, and the means to shut up Katsuki Bakugo of all people, Kirishima puts a plan in action under the guise of needing help with his schoolwork for the break.

* * *

Kirishima had his bag slung over his shoulder, which had his textbook for his schoolwork, and an extra controller for the system in Bakugo's room, because he knew that Katsuki had never even attempted to go out and buy a second one. It also held snacks, some of which Yaoyorozu made for him because she was much too nice for her own good. When Kirishima had told her he was gonna spend the next day or so cranking out his homework, she got oddly excited and said she was happy that he was beginning to take his schoolwork a bit more seriously. It made him feel a little guilty, knowing that his entire plan was just to mess with Bakugo.

Grinning his signature grin, Kirishima leaned against the wall next to Bakugo's door and knocked on it lightly. From inside, he could hear the muffled sound of what sounded like rock music but it was immediately turned off once he'd finished knocking. After that, there was a string of colorful curses, ranging from _'Who the FUCK...'_ to _'I'm gonna fuckin' KILL whoever...'._

If he was anyone else, Kirishima would've been worried. Just about everyone in their class had been on the receiving end of 'Lord Explosion Murder's' famous rants, including Kirishima himself. However, none of the others really had the same edge when it came to Bakugo that Kirishima had. It was almost as if the always-chipper boy had some kind of special privilege...

It'd be ridiculous to think that he didn't, though. After all, Kirishima was the only one in their class who could render Katsuki Bakugo of all people speechless with one action.

The doorknob to Bakugo's room shook violently before the door was wrenched open, only stopping from hitting the wall because Katsuki himself held it open. As per usual, his face was fixed with a scowl but, once he saw Kirishima, it softened a little. Before the red-head could say even a word, though, Bakugo leaned out into the hallway and pushed Kirishima aside, looking around the hall as if he expected there to be more people there. Once he finally saw that no one else was hiding in the hall or anything, he leaned back into his room and sighed heavily, looking toward Kirishima with a questioning look on his face. The usual scowl was gone and his face actually looked quite soft at that moment.

"What is it, Eijiro?" Bakugo asked, his voice a lot lower than most people ever really heard it. Kirishima, though, was used to hearing it at this point.

He reached into the bag over his shoulder and pulled out the textbook he'd stuffed in there, among the other things. Holding it in front of him, he grinned. Katsuki's gaze faltered, but only for a moment.

"I wanted your help on a few of the homework problems," Eijiro answered. Having rehearsed the lines so much, it was easy to get them out convincingly. "I've gotten most, if not all of them, done, but I wanted a second opinion on some of them. Mind helping me out, partner?"

Katsuki scoffed, but his usual sneer wasn't as strong as before. Thinking back on the homework, he sighed before leaning against the open doorframe.

"All that work is easy, Eijiro," He told him. As if to prove his point, he flicked his finger along the bottom edge of the page that was sticking out of the book's pages. "You don't need my help with this."

Smiling still, Kirishima leaned against the other side of the doorframe.

"I didn't say I _needed_ your help, Katsuki," He said, rolling his eyes at the sneer that practically forced itself across the others' face. "I said I _wanted_ it. I'm just not as confident about my answers as you usually are, so I figured you could help me make sure these are right."

Bakugo narrowed his eyes at Kirishima, the edge of his mouth tipping up into its usual snarl. His eyes flashed across a couple different things on Eijiro's person: The textbook still in his hand, plus the paper that was sticking out of its pages. The bag over his shoulder, still clearly full of other things despite the fact that the textbook, especially with how large it was, wasn't in it anymore. Casual clothes; a sweater and a pair of sleep pants. His hair wasn't let down yet, but Katsuki had a sneaking suspicion that was just to aid him in whatever he thought he was doing here.

On that note, it was clear to see that Eijiro was up to something. Exactly what that was, Bakugo didn't know quite yet. But there was clearly something. His grin wasn't forced, in fact, it looked like it came a little too easily and he had a glint in his eye that reminded Bakugo of Kaminari. _Anything_ that reminded him of Denki, of all _fucking_ people, was clearly not a good fucking thing. Despite all the bad feelings and clear warning signs he was getting...Katsuki couldn't say no to that face. And Kirishima fucking knew he couldn't.

He sighed before pushing himself further against the edge of the doorway, leaving enough space for Kirishima to walk past him, which the redhead eagerly followed up upon.

"Let's get this fucking over with," Bakugo said to the others' back, shutting the door silently behind him. "The faster we get this shit over with, the faster you get out of my room. And the second we're done, I want you fucking gone, got it?"

With his usual grin - _his shit-eating grin, Katsuki would call it_ \- Kirishima dropped his bag on the floor next to Bakugo's bed, sat down on the bed, and set the textbook on his lap. He patted it with both hands and looked up at Bakugo expectantly.

"Got it. Let's hurry up and get to work, then, alright, Katsuki?" Kirishima told him. There was something about the look on his face that made it so much harder to keep the scowl on Bakugo's lips. Something about the way his head tilted slightly to the side, how easy it was to see the dimples in Eijiro's cheeks, and how...how goddamn _annoying_ it was that he could point that shit out so fast.

Grumbling his displeasure, mostly with himself, Bakugo slinked over and dropped himself onto the bed next to Kirishima. He didn't miss Eijiro pushing himself against his side as soon as he did and scowled in response.

" _Absolute fucker._ ". He muttered under his breath, to which Kirishima simply smiled harder and cracked open his textbook. Sighing, Bakugo looked down at the pages, unsurprised to see that Eijiro had not only had the entire first page done, but all of it was, as far as he could see, perfectly right. Kirishima wasn't stupid. He was far fuckin from it. Bakugo seemed to be repeating himself over and over, but he just fucking _knew_ that Kirishima was up to something. He just didn't know what the _fuck_ it was.

* * *

"Dammit, Eijiro! You don't fucking need me for this!" Bakugo exclaimed after flipping past yet another page of completely finished and perfectly done homework. Kirishima simply grinned at him. That fucking grin was starting to get to him. At this point, if he shut his eyes, all Bakugo would see was that _goddamn_ grin and those stupid fucking, ridiculously cute, dimples in his _fucking cheeks_. Gods, it was going to drive him fucking _insane_.

Shaking his head, Kirishima put both his hands behind his head and fell onto his back on Bakugo's bed.

"Do I have to keep saying it, Katsuki?" He said, the mirth oh so clear in his voice. He'd opened his bag and pulled out an assortment of snacks that, as he'd put it, Ponytail gave him to 'help him focus' on his work. Now, he reached over to Bakugo's desk, where he'd set the snacks down, and brought a muffin over, which he eagerly bit into. Once he finished chewing, he sat up and looked at Bakugo from the corner of his eye. "You're right. I don't _need_ you for this. But I want your help. Is it that hard to understand?"

Bakugo ground his teeth before jabbing an accusatory finger into Kirishima's chest.

"You're damn right it is! If it's all fucking done and you were confident enough to be happy with the answers, then why the _fuck_ did you even come to me for help?!" Kirishima opened his mouth to reply, only for Bakugo to grab his hand and push the muffin back into his mouth, effectively silencing him. "No, you shut your damn mouth! What the fuck's your game here, huh?! I can see that fucking look in your eye! I know you're fucking up to something!"

The two of them were silent for a moment before Kirishima reached up to pull the muffin out of his mouth, only to reveal that he was laughing. Bakugo was ready to pop a goddamn gasket at this point, which was apparent in the way he looked at Kirishima and dug his finger harder into his chest.

"What the hell are you laughing about, huh?!" Bakugo jabbed Kirishima again, only causing him to laugh even more. "Dammit, Eijiro! I don't HAVE to help you, dumbass!"

Finally managing to sit himself up and, for the most part, stop laughing, Eijiro grabbed Bakugo's wrist and held it between them.

"Then why are you doing it?" He asked, even though he already knew the answer. Really, it was too easy sometimes to push Katsuki's buttons.

Kirishima's hand was warm and it seemed all the heat from his palm was traveling up Bakugo's arm, only to settle down in his face. Actually, no, fuck that. Fuck. That. What, was he gonna turn into Round Face whenever fucking Deku did anything near her? Was he gonna turn into a goddamn _tomato_ like she did and grab his cheeks and whine and fucking _die_ from it? Fuck no.

"...Because I want to," He stated, clear and proud. Sure, it made his cheeks turn a little red and it made Kirishima smile -that fucking smile, Gods- but he meant it. "And because you're not allowed to fall behind, got it? When I'm the number one Hero, you're gonna fuckin be there too, got it Eijiro?!"

His smile was wide, but it was clearly just that. A _smile_. Whereas he'd just been grinning like a little shit the entire time before, Eijiro legitimately smiled there. Thankfully, Katsuki was already sitting down. If he wasn't, he was sure his knees would've fucking gone weak at that damn smile.

"Got it, Katsuki," Eijiro replied. With a flick of his hand, he tossed his textbook and his work to the side and reached into his bag, pulling out the spare controller he'd brought with him. "It's like you said. I don't need your help with the work, so why waste time on it? I went out and got a controller so we could play that game together. You know, that hiking sim that you bought?"

Thankful for the distraction, Bakugo shot up off of the bed, throwing his own work to the side as he did. Without looking back at Eijiro, though, he immediately kneeled over to start setting up his console. The 'hiking sim' that Kirishima was talking about was already in the system and, before that day, it was true that Bakugo only had the one controller that he'd play with.

"Yeah, yeah, I knew you wouldn't wanna keep bullshitting the work like that eventually," Bakugo claimed, standing up again. He had one hand in his pocket, but the other seemed like it was clutched to his chest. "But...you didn't need to buy the damn controller." With that, he turned around and tossed two controllers onto the bed. One was clearly the same that Bakugo had always used if it's red case and rough exterior was any evidence of it. The other one was spotless. Completely black without a custom case on it and with no flaws in it at all, Kirishima picked it up steadily and looked back up to Bakugo, whose back was still turned to him. From the looks of it, he was fumbling with the cords behind his TV; But Kirishima knew better.

Quietly, he stood up, dropping the controller back onto the bed, and stepped up behind him. There was no way that Bakugo, out of all people, hadn't heard him. It just meant that he didn't want to stop him. Eijiro smiled and looped his arm around Bakugo's neck, pulling him down just a bit, and put his chin over the taller boy's other shoulder. With the start of a rebuttal on his lips, Bakugo turned to try and look at Kirishima, only to feel the redhead's lips press against his cheek.

It was quick and as soon as it was over, he could hear the springs of his bed creaking, revealing that Eijiro had fallen back onto the bed. Part of him was tempted to look back at him, but he knew damn well that his body wasn't agreeing with him right now; The heat in his face was enough of an indicator already. Instead of turning around, he simply scowled and went back to untangling his cords, though a lot more aggressively now.

From where he'd fallen onto the bed, Kirishima watched him with an easy smile on his lips. He half expected Katsuki to blow up but really, he knew better than that. After all, he was the only person out of their entire class who knew Bakugo's weakness.

"Thanks, Katsuki," He sat on the bed, waiting for Bakugo to sit down. He held the new controller in his hand, turning it around in his hands. On the back of it, there was a sticker with writing on it, written crudely in red pen, that said: 'FOR EIJIRO'. "...Love ya, partner."

Katsuki froze for a fraction of a second, only for the screen of his TV to finally light up and turn on. Dragging a hand over his face, he backed up to sit down on the floor, just against Eijiro's legs so that he couldn't see his face. He was mumbling under his breath, quiet enough so that Eijiro couldn't hear, but got louder as he went on.

"...Love you too, you...piece of shit." Katsuki grumbled out, his face still turned up toward the screen so that Eijiro couldn't see him, even though he really didn't need to. Chances were, Bakugo's face was as red as Kirishima's hair. Because really, when Kirishima knew his weakness, how could he not mess with him about it? It was adorable.

Who would've thought that Katsuki Bakugo's biggest weakness would be pure, unadulterated, affection?


	8. Workshop Semantics

Summary: Iida knows that Mei spends most, if not all, of her time in Power Loader's workshop at school. Since he's got nothing to do for the day, as well as for the rest of the week, he decides to pay her a visit to bring her lunch. He knows she hasn't eaten yet, and what kind of boyfriend would he be if he didn't help her out?

* * *

Tenya Iida could have found a couple of things to do with his time. For instance, he was painfully aware of a few of his classmates who had not finished their work for the week off, as well as a few who hadn't even started it. Alongside Yaoyorozu, he could have held an impromptu study session to make sure everyone understood the material and he could have personally gone around to help out and also to make sure that everyone was actually finishing their work.

He could have done that. He also could have gone off to train for the day. It was perfectly possible for him to try and reach higher max speeds when running regularly, as well as when using his Recipro Burst. Tenya could also try to work on lengthening how long he could use Recipro Burst, or he could work on decreasing the amount of time he needed for his engines to be usable again after that.

Iida could definitely have found some other things to do. Instead, though, he was walking back into UA's main building, a bag over his shoulder, and his phone in hand. Tenya wasn't the type to constantly be on his phone. In reality, he barely used it. Nowadays, it was only to keep up with his family when he was at school or to keep in touch with his friends, no matter where he was. The present situation was no different.

As he entered the front doors of the building, his phone pinged in his hand. It was Mei, which caused a smile to slip over his face. She texted fast, though surprisingly with little to no errors like other people he knew. Sometimes she'd use emojis, but it wasn't all the time. Really only when she was extremely excited about something.

 _Mei: 'I'm still in Power Loader-sensei's workshop! I'll probably be here for the next few hours.'_

Tenya pocketed his phone for a moment just to jog his memory on where to go. Once he did so, he smiled and continued to walk, pulling his phone out once again to respond.

 _Tenya: 'I assumed as much. I'm on my way already.'_

He wasn't one to frequent the workshop as much as others, like Izuku, do, but he usually enjoyed the experience. It was loud, though that was to be expected. It was a workshop after all. Recently, though, he'd been visiting much more often, and the reason was obvious. If Mei spent most of her time there, then it'd make sense for him to want to be there more. She was his girlfriend, after all.

 _Mei: 'Okay! I'll try to clean a little before you get here since it gets so messy! See you, darling!'_

Despite being trained in the ancient arts of stoicism, Tenya couldn't stop the inevitable blush that spread across his cheeks. Mei was affectionate and she definitely wasn't secretive about that. She would call him pet names, like 'darling', around everyone, much to his dismay. Still, he'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy them as well.

He could hear the sounds of metalworking from miles down the hall. It wasn't too late-Close to about five in the afternoon-but Tenya wouldn't be surprised if Mei was the only one remaining in the workshop again. She took her work seriously enough to see it as more of a responsibility or civic duty than schoolwork, like most other students. It was admirable, to Iida anyway. The fact that she would work so hard now, even though her actual career wouldn't begin for many years later was enough to bring a tear to his eye.

The two of them had had a rocky start after their match at the Sports Festival. Afterward, though, when Iida was thinking of getting some upgrades to his hero costume, he was surprised to find that Mei was incredibly reliable when it came to upgrades and her work. She would bounce ideas off of him, some of which were outright ridiculous, but some others that were surprisingly great. After that, they found themselves closer and closer to each other until Iida might have accidentally asked her on a date. Things escalated from there.

It was an accident, sure, but it was a happy accident. Now, Tenya could barely think back to when he wasn't with her.

Finally reaching the door to the workshop, Iida pushed it open and stepped inside. As usual, the room was devoid of any movement that didn't have a head of pink hair. From where he was standing at the door, he could see Mei leaning over a worktable a bit away from him. Her goggles were pushed down over her eyes and she seemed to have a blowtorch in hand. The black tank top she wore was clinging to her skin and Iida could see the sweat running down her arms.

He knew about her project, the one she'd been working on for the past month, but didn't know exactly what it was. Mei only really talked about her 'babies' after they were finished, to some degree. Since this one had been in the works for such a long time, Tenya hadn't really asked about it. She'd tell him whenever she wanted to, and that's when he'd find out.

The door fell shut behind him and Mei's head perked up slightly. The torch was turned off and she turned around quickly, lifting her goggles up off of her eyes. Once she saw him, she smiled wide and set the torch down before turning and skipping slightly in his direction. As usual, she stopped close enough for Iida to feel the heat coming off of her, though he didn't mind as much as he used to.

"Hey! You got here a little earlier than I thought you would," Mei admitted, looking up at him with wide eyes. "I was hoping I could put some things away before you got to me."

Iida smiled down at her, rubbing the back of his neck. "I remembered the way here a lot easier than before. There's also nothing to say I simply didn't walk a little faster, either."

She smiled up at him, practically shooting butterflies directly into his stomach, before she turned around, gesturing toward her work.

"I was hoping to get to a good point to stop before you got here," She said, walking back toward the table. Iida followed her, looking around the workshop as he did. "But I may have gotten carried away, so now I'm a point where I _can't_ stop!" She looked excited until she turned around again to look at him. Her eyes were downcast. "Sorry, darling."

Tenya waved his hand dismissively. "You don't have to apologize. Getting so into your work is admirable, after all!" He smiled and gestured toward the rest of the workshop. "Besides. You've gotten a lot done already. I don't fault you for wanting to stick around and see it through. However, I know that you often look past yourself in order to do your work to the fullest, Mei."

She smiled in response, though embarrassment was clear on her face. Bashfully, she rubbed the back of her neck, though Tenya continued.

"So, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't help you out where I could and support you as well?" He slipped his bag off of his shoulder and pulled out the small bento he'd brought with him. "It's safe to think that you haven't gotten a chance to eat yet, correct? I figured I could save you the trouble of having to leave the workshop so that you don't have to lose any time on your work."

Eyes full of wonderment, Mei took the bento from his hands and Tenya folded her fingers over it, smiling down at her happily.

"I think I've taken up enough of your time, Mei," He said casually, stepping back. Immediately, he missed the warmth of being close to her, but he was strong-willed. He'd survive without it. "I'll sit by the door and leave you to your things, okay?"

Spinning around to place the bento on a table, Mei turned back to him and smiled, sending butterflies into his stomach like it was nothing.

"Okay! I'll try to wrap up for today so we can head out for a bit, darling," She responded. As Tenya turned and walked over to the chair, she followed and excitedly threw her arms around him, hugging him from behind. He was much taller than her, so it was a bit awkward, but it was full of love. Surely Iida could feel it. "And thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you," She told him. "Or my babies! But mostly you."

Laughing, he patted her pink locks and let himself be hugged.

"I'm sure you'd do fine, Mei," Smiling still, he untangled himself out from her arms and turned to face her once more. "But if I'm here, then we don't need to think about that at all, now do we?"

Smiling as wide as humanly possible, Mei leaned forward, looking up at him.

"Nope!" She exclaimed, popping the 'p' sound as she said it. "And I won't think about it, because you are here, Iida," Standing up on the tips of her toes, Mei managed to just kiss Iida on the cheek. She smiled, falling back to her feet happily. "I love you."

Despite his stony demeanor, Iida's cheeks turned pleasantly red. He smiled down at her and pulled her into a tight hug which she eagerly returned.

"I love you too, Mei," He whispered in her ear, making her giggle and squirm in his grasp. Placing her hands on his chest, Mei pushed herself away, though Iida kept her close with a hand around her back. Her face matched his in redness, which only got worse once she leaned up again and pecked him on the lips. Stony demeanor or not, Iida couldn't stop himself from clasping a hand against his mouth, immediately looking around the workshop as if someone had seen them. No one was there, thankfully, but it didn't do much to calm his nerves. In his arms, Mei laughed at him quietly, a hand over her mouth even though it didn't stop the sound from coming out anyway.

"Mei!" He called, half-whispering half-scolding. She had long since gotten used to his outbursts, though, and simply laughed louder, letting her hand fall away to do so in full. Though he was embarrassed to a certain degree, Iida couldn't help but smile. He simply loved seeing Mei happy too much to be upset with her.

* * *

It took a handful of minutes for Mei to get back to work-most of which comprised of Iida of trying to get the girl off of him. He loved her, sure, but she was extremely affectionate. It wasn't that Tenya wasn't used to it at this point; He just figured it'd be better for her to get back to work soon so they'd have more time together afterward.

Just before she went back to work, she popped open the bento and took a deep whiff, smiling back at Tenya once she did. He smiled back, his cheeks turning slightly pink at the innocent act. He didn't think the bento-simple white rice and pork cutlet-was anything special, but seeing Mei gleefully eat a bit of it before rushing to her worktable was enough to make him think otherwise, if only a little.

Tenya sat down in a chair against the wall, just a bit away from where Mei worked. He was easily out of the work area, but close enough to hear and respond to her if he needed to. From his bag, he procured a book that he'd borrowed from Midoriya-The History of Quirks-and cracked it open about halfway through, where he'd left his bookmark the day before. Immediately, he delved into his reading diligently. While the noise of Mei working behind him was enough to remind him where he was, it wasn't enough to break his attention quite yet.

Admittedly, the book wasn't very interesting, but Tenya felt it was important to understand his roots as a wannabe-Hero. In order to do that, he had to familiarize himself with Quirks-How they originated, which is a story that everyone had to know, how they'd been used, and how society had elevated to the point where they were at now. Truly, if he became acquainted with knowledge like that, his path to becoming a Hero would be much more clear!

With determination practically flooding from each and every one of his pores, Tenya eagerly dug into his reading, committing each word, sentence, and paragraph to memory. Determination was key! With the will to do it, Tenya could read through, finish completely, and recite without a problem any and every section of this book! Yes! As long as he could...keep his...mind focused! And...his eyes...open...

The book slipping off of his lap and crashing to the floor was enough to jolt Tenya back into the real world. He had, disappointingly, fallen asleep. Normally he wouldn't even allow himself the liberty of an excuse but...who was he kidding, the book was pretty boring. Truthfully, he admired Midoriya for having read the entire thing at least twice, but he couldn't see how the kid did it. Out of all of Class 1-A, no one would even hope to argue against Midoriya being the most driven one in their class. The progress he'd made over the course of their time together was impressive and it truly a sight to behold. Tenya was proud to be his friend, honestly.

Normally he wouldn't even think of doing it, but Tenya gave up on the book. He slipped it back into his bag and stretched his arms, standing in order to stretch his legs as well. Mei was still hard at work over in her section of the workshop and Tenya took notice that the lunch he'd made for her was halfway gone already. The fact that she'd taken enough time out of her work to eat at all was enough to please him, making him smile as he left his bag at the chair and made his way closer to where Mei worked.

Just like before, she had her goggles on over her eyes and a large blowtorch of some kind in her hands. The heat had seemingly gotten to her if all the sweat on her form was anything to go by. She'd tossed away her jacket and had rolled the legs of her pants up to her knees-anything to give her some kind of solace against the heat around her. The thing she seemed to be working on was large, almost as big as her body, but it seemed hollow, from what Tenya could see. It looked like it could be a brace of some kind, but it looked too long to be a chest or a back brace. A tail brace, then? Tenya had seen Mashirao come into the workshop a couple of times before-It could have been for him. Something told him it wasn't, though, and Tenya decided to listen to whatever that something was.

Not wanting to get too close to her, for fear of both getting in her way and of getting himself hurt somehow, Tenya simply leaned against the table where she'd place her lunch and watched her. Her familiarity with the workshop rang true as Tenya watched her, zipping across the tables around her to grab different tools without looking and jumping back to her work as if she hadn't moved in the first place. It was like Mei was in her natural habitat; Here, she was so strong, nothing could best her.

Without warning, Tenya blushed and covered his mouth, afraid he'd make a noise and distract her. He had no clue why he'd suddenly gotten flustered and cursed himself inwardly for letting it get past him. _How foolish!_ He thought, still clasping a hand over his mouth. _This is her goal! I should be ashamed for even getting close to interrupting her. Some boyfriend I am...,_

So caught up in his own thoughts, Tenya didn't hear the sound of the blowtorch shutting off and didn't see Mei walking toward him until she was already in front of him.

"Tenya? Is something wrong?" She asked, leaning in and looking up at him with wide eyes. Practically forced now to notice her presence, Tenya jumped, his back slamming into the table behind him. Mei put her hands up as if moving to steady him when he straightened his back and stood back up.

"Ah! No, no. Nothing is...nothing is wrong, Mei, I simply..," He started, looking toward the worktable she was at. The brace she was making looked to be whole, but Tenya wouldn't know exactly. "I simply wished that I could help you in some way."

The pink-haired girl tilted her head, looking up at him with skeptical eyes. Whenever she did that, Tenya felt as if she was staring into his soul. With her Quirk, who knew if it was possible or not.

After a tense moment, Mei leaned back and smiled.

"You help me just by being here, Tenya," She whispered, though just loud enough for him to hear. Tenya smiled, but something felt off. He had a weird feeling..."Buuuut, if you really wanna help..." That's what it was. A 'but'.

Tenya sighed, exasperated. Despite that, he couldn't help the smile that grew on his face anyway. Reaching down, he took her hands in his.

"Whatever you need of me, Mei. I'm ready to help however I can."


	9. Darkness begets truth and honesty

Summary: A sick Tsuyu decides to spend the night with Tokoyami in his room to escape the noisy slumber party that's taking place in Yaomomo's room. Tokoyami is merely afraid that she won't like his room, despite her telling him it'll be fine.

The night begins.

* * *

"They really do know how to turn the volume up a notch when they need to, don't they?" Tokoyami asked curiously. Tsu nodded and let her head fall against his shoulder.

The rest of the girls were throwing some kind of slumber party in Yaomomo's room, for some odd reason, and were stirring the entire floor with the noise. Tsuyu, having come down with something just recently-Something that Tokoyami felt guilty for, looking back on their walk through the rain-, decided not to join them. Since her room was just down the hall from Yaomomo's, though, the noise still reached her and made it hard to relax. So, Tokoyami took it upon himself to intervene and invited her to spend the night in his room; Just to make sure she could get away from the noise so she could recover. Happily, the frog girl agreed and put some things together to get ready. That lead into the present, where Tokoyami had shouldered the small duffel bag that Tsu had put together and was leading her by hand to his room.

"Mmm," Tsuyu murmured in response before digging her face deeper into Tokoyami's shoulder. He tensed up for a moment before sighing and relaxing into it. Ever since she'd gotten sick, Tsuyu had been a lot more physical. He wasn't sure if it was because of the lack of heat or if she just wanted to be, but he planned to comply regardless. After all, it's not like he didn't like it. It was just...different than what he was used to.

The two of them stepped into the elevator and Tokoyami pressed the button to take them down to the first floor. For security's sake, it was a smart move to have both the boys and girls' rooms apart like they were. For convenience's sake, though, it was a pain to deal with. Just to get from Tsu's room to his own, they had to go down to the first floor and then take the other elevator up to Tokoyami's floor. It was much more effort than it should have been.

"Mmm...Fumikage-chan," He heard Tsuyu whisper. He quirked a brow and turned to look at her as much as he could. "Thanks again. You don't have to do this for me, you know."

Surprisingly, a chuckle escaped him. He shut his eyes and leaned down enough for their heads to touch.

"Of course, I don't have to," He stated before leaning up and laying his beak over her head. "But I want to. Such is my duty, Tsu. It's not a problem."

All was silent between the two of them, though their embrace started to make the heat in the confined space pick up. Just as the elevator doors dinged open, Tsuyu clenched his hoodie in her hand and nodded again.

" _Thank you._ " She stated before beginning to step forward. Slightly stunned, Fumikage slowly followed. He smiled, though. She was a bit more quiet, this way, but no less sincere. It was sweet.

The walk through the lounge was short. Since the girls were 'partying' in Yaomomo's room, some of the boys decided they'd do the same in the lounge, since there was more of them. Present were Midoriya, Todoroki, Kirishima, Kaminari, Mineta, Aoyama, Sato, and Sero. Unsurprisingly, Bakugo had decided not to join the little party, but it was just as loud as ever without him. Currently, it looked like a video game tournament was going on; Some kind of fighting game that Tokoyami was quite familiar with. It looked like Midoriya, Todoroki, Aoyama, and Mineta had already lost. Currently, Kirishima and Sato were playing against each other.

Heated debate filled the air as the two of them practically beat up the controllers. The debate, though, was mostly between Kaminari and Sero, who were the next two to play. The two were running commentary on the game, hamming it up pretty hard and making the rest of the boys laugh, including Todoroki, surprisingly.

"Oh, that was a nice combo there, Denki!" Sero called out, holding his hand up to his mouth like he was holding a microphone. "Kirishima has clearly been practicing, that combo is nothing to laugh at."

"I hear ya, Hanta," Kaminari agreed, nodding his head along. "It doesn't help that he's picked such a difficult character. Crimson Riot has some of the most difficult to land combos out of the entire roster. It takes a lot to be even _decent_ with him!"

Kirishima laughed along, though he neglected to talk in order to focus on the game. Like the 'announcers' said, Kirishima had picked up Crimson Riot, whereas Sato was playing Vlad King. There was a bit of irony there—playing as one of the teachers they saw on nearly a daily basis—but none of them had commented on it.

"In fairness, Vlad King does have a lot of heavy-hitting combos!" Sero called out, watching as Sato landed an easy counter. "He's the king of comebacks for a reason! It's an even harder match-up when you think of the fact that Crimson Riot, while strong in close-range, doesn't have any ranged attacks! Vlad King, though, has enough to bully with!"

Tokoyami smiled as he listened to the boys go on. During the commentary, the other boys were talking animatedly and just enjoying the company. Midoriya waved at him as he went by, and Tokoyami waved back. Tsuyu had kept her face buried in his shoulder, but as they stopped in front of the elevator, she looked up at him.

"They really get into that game, ribbit," She commented. Tokoyami chuckled in response. "Did you play too, Fumikage-chan?"

"I do sometimes. Other times, Mashirao and I like to hang out on the roof," He told her, leading her into the elevator once it opened. Pushing the button for his floor, he went back at it. "All of us boys have played it a lot. We haven't had a really big tournament—with all of us in it, I mean—in a long time."

She croaked in thought, her head falling against his shoulder before she spoke again. "Who does everyone usually play?"

Fumikage tilted his head, thinking, before answering. "Hm. Well, as you heard, Kirishima plays Crimson Riot and Sato plays Vlad King. Midoriya and Bakugo both play as All Might, whereas Todoroki plays Aizawa-sensei, Eraserhead."

He continued after another moment of thought. "Mineta plays as any of the female heroes, but he's really good with Mt. Lady. Aoyama likes to play as Present Mic, Mashirao plays as Kamui Woods, Iida plays as his brother, Ingenium—who was added as a homage after the Stain incident—and Kouda plays as Gang Orca. Kaminari and Sero are the best players out of us all. Kaminari plays Endeavour and Sero plays as Best Jeanist, and Shouji plays either Fat Gum or Hound Dog."

Tsuyu nodded along, looking as if she was seemingly interested in the game. She'd never played it, after all.

"Have any of the girls ever come down to play?" She asked, jabbing his finger at her lip as she often did. Tokoyami nodded in response.

"Both Jiro and Yaoyorozu have played with us. Jiro likes to play Present Mic and Yaoyorozu likes Ectoplasm." He told her. She croaked in response and let her head fall onto his shoulder again. The two of them were silent, though when the elevator opened and the two of them walked out, she croaked again and tugged on his sleeve.

"You never told me who you like to play, Fumikage-chan." She commented, looking up at him with wide eyes. Tokoyami's dark cheeks burned with blush and he covered his beak with his hand, looking toward the floor.

"Ah...W-well, I...I like to play Edgeshot. He's a really mobile character and he's fun to play as," The bird-headed boy eeked out. Tsuyu tilted her head curiously. "The others have made a few jokes about him being the 'edgiest' character before. I suppose it gets to me."

Tsuyu laughed, croaking, and nuzzled into his arm.

"Don't let it get to you," She murmured against the cloth of his hoodie. Tokoyami smiled, stopping finally at his door. "It's just a game, after all."

He opened the door and, surprisingly even to himself, turned the light on. "Of course. Just don't let the others hear you say that. They'll go ballistic."

She croaked out another laugh as Tokoyami led her into the room, shutting the door behind him. Despite the lights being on, his room wasn't much different than usual. The skulls with candles in them had been moved somewhere out of view, as had the candles themselves, and the sword and shield he kept by his bed were stuffed into his closet.

Tokoyami himself wasn't too used to have the lights on in his room. As such, turning them on hurt his eyes a little, causing him to squint. Tsuyu didn't seem to mind, though, as she eagerly laid down on his bed and spread herself out, croaking happily. Watching her with amusement practically written across his face, Tokoyami smiled and walked around his bed, to his desk. Retrieving his laptop and dropping Tsu's bag, he turned back around and sat down on one end of his bed, closer to where Tsuyu's head had ended up. Lifting her head up to look at him, she smiled. It was a small smile, but it was a smile nonetheless.

Gingerly, Fumikage reached forward and placed the back of his hand against Tsu's forehead. He was surprised to feel just how cold she was. Sure, because of her quirk, she was plenty cold-blooded as it was, but this was worse. Worry must have been clear on his face as Tsu's smile fell and she croaked sadly.

"How are you feeling, Tsu?" He asked, leaning down just a bit so he could hear her better.

"Cold," She responded bluntly. Tokoyami tilted his head. "And dizzy."

"Mmm. Could you sit up for me, please?" He asked her. She croaked in response, though she did what he asked. Now that he had the chance to actually look at her face, he could see something was up. Her skin was deathly pale, edging on blue in some places, and it looked like it was hard for her to keep her eyes open. Just looking at her, he could tell her vision was unfocused and he had a sudden pang of guilt in his heart. Was that why she'd avoided looking up at all when they were downstairs? He sighed.

"Would it be better if I turned the light back off?" He asked, leaning in again. She smiled, but it was uneasy.

"Yes, please." She whispered and Tokoyami quickly got up to comply. Once the lights were off, he felt the familiar feeling of Dark Shadow moving around restlessly. He ignored it, though, and sat back down next to Tsu, who had closed her eyes.

"Is that better?" He asked, reaching out to take her hand in between his own.

"It is..," She murmured. Without opening her eyes, she let herself fall forward until her forehead was against Tokoyami's shoulder. Sighing, she smiled. "Thank you, Fumikage-chan."

He smiled at her, nuzzling his head against hers. "Whatever you need, just tell me. I'll make sure you're comfortable for the night."

Tsuyu dug herself deeper into his hoodie and latched her arms around him.

"I know you will...you always do what's best for me," She replied, making Tokoyami's dark cheeks light up with blush. "You're too good to me."

He chuckled, running one hand through her hair. "Nonsense. I give you exactly what you deserve," He told her, holding her against him tightly. "If anything, you're too good for me. I appreciate that you'd settle, though."

She giggled against his chest, which made him smile warmly.

"That's ridiculous..." She muttered. Tokoyami merely smiled, holding onto her tighter if it was possible. The two sat there, tightly holding onto one another, for a long time.

* * *

"What're you doing, Fumikage-chan?" Tsu asked from her place in front of the dresser.

"Well, I figured it wouldn't be good for you to lay down if you're dizzy, so I got an idea." He replied as he pulled the blanket up off of the bed. It was a cold night, and Tokoyami often left his window open. Tonight was no exception, meaning it was a bit colder in his room than he'd like. That, on top of Tsuyu's current condition, is what spurred him into action.

The raised platform of his headboard was just big enough for him to set things on it. Usually, he'd put whatever book he was currently reading there so that it'd be easy to find. Tonight, though, it would serve a new purpose. Tokoyami set his laptop on it and opened it, facing toward the rest of his bed. Pleased with how it looked, for now, he pulled all his pillows from their places and arranged them in a semi-circle facing the screen. Just the ones on his bed weren't enough, though, so he dug deep into his closet to get the extras his mother had made him bring with him. At the time, he'd thought he'd never find a use for them. Knowing they were being put to use, his mother would be proud and would probably shove it in his face until the end of time.

He'd piled all the pillows up together until he had pretty much a small throne on his bed. Pleased with himself, even more, he finally draped his entire blanket over it and let the ends fall to the sides before turning back to Tsuyu. She had a small smile on her face and a look in her eye that he couldn't quite place.

"This way," He started, gesturing toward the little 'throne' he'd made for the both of them. "You can be comfortable without having to lie down."

Tsuyu smiled, a wide and beautiful smile, as her cheeks turned slightly pink. She stepped forward, ready to climb onto the bed, before turning and latching onto Tokoyami and digging her face into his chest. Taken aback, he hesitated before letting his arms fall around her just as tightly. He smiled and inched closer to the bed little by little. Tsuyu seemed like she wasn't inclined to let go of him, which he attributed to how cold she was.

Finally, he got to the bed. In one fell swoop, he allowed himself to fall into the throne of pillows and he pulled Tsu along with him. Giggling against his chest, she let herself fall until she felt her legs touch the bed, and then she pulled him up to herself and finally pulled her face away from Tokoyami's chest. He had grabbed the edges of the blanket and had pulled the entire thing over the both of them and was beginning to reach toward his laptop when Tsu leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. He faltered, his eyes falling down to her. A smile slipped over his beak.

"I don't like repeating myself," She told him, still looking up at him with what he now could see was admiration in her eyes. "But thank you. I don't think I settled like you said. I think you're perfect for me, Fumikage-chan."

His dark cheeks turned red and he looked away, holding a hand over his beak.

"Y-you flatter me, Tsu," He replied. Despite his not looking at her, his grip on her tightened. "I agree. You're perfect for me as well."

The two smiled at each other before Tokoyami reached forward again and hit play on the movie they'd picked out. Aside from its opening credits, all was silent around them. All they had right at that moment was each other: And they'd have it no other way.


	10. Movie Night!

Summary: The majority of Class 1-A decides to host a movie night in the lounge before they have to resume with classes after the break. With only a day or two left, they figure the best way to spend the night is to do it with their friends.

* * *

"What kind of movie are we gonna watch, Tsuyu?" Tooru asked, curious.

"I vote we watch anything that isn't some kind of sappy ass romance story," Bakugo commented. "It's a damn miracle that I agreed to this in the first place. It's almost like you're trying to drive me away at the first fucking chance."

"I-I think you're being a little presumptuous, Kacchan..," Midoriya commented nervously. Once the blonde's head swiveled over to him, a glare set dead on his face, Deku found that literally _anything_ else seemed to be a lot more interesting to look at. Thankfully, Ochako clinging to his left arm was enough to distract him from his childhood friend's unbridled rage.

The same could be said for Bakugo, though. While he reclined on the smaller couch facing the TV, his feet kicked up onto the table, Kirishima was laying down over the rest of the length of the sofa, his head in Katsuki's lap. Once the blonde shot his glare at Midoriya, Eijiro reached up and cupped his chin, directing his eyes back to him. His face turning red, Katsuki looked away and flicked the redhead's forehead.

"Fuckin dumbass," He muttered under his breath, though Kirishima just grinned his sharky smile and laughed. Midoriya and Uraraka were seated on the floor just in front of the same couch, Izuku with his back against it and Ochako with her head on her boyfriend's shoulder.

Sitting on two ottomans pushed together, Tokoyami and Tsuyu were holding a quiet conversation of their own.

"I'm not exactly a fan of comedies, if I'm honest, Tsu." The bird-headed boy said. Tsuyu nodded, jabbing her finger against her lip.

"Neither am I since I'm not the most expressive of people. Do you think they would mind a horror?" She asked, tilting her head. Tokoyami's eyes widened and he nodded, cupping his chin with his free hand, the other holding onto Tsuyu's easily.

"That would be optimal. I'm sure Hagakure would find that enjoyable." He responded. Ojiro, having overheard them from across the table, nodded his head in agreement.

"You aren't wrong about that. Tooru loves horror films," He said. The invisible girl was pressed against his side, her knees pulled to her chest as Ojiro himself sat in the corner of the longer sofa. His tail was wrapped around her midsection and she seemed to be cuddling with it. "I figure that could work."

"A-ah.., I don't uhm...handle scary movies that well," Midoriya commented, scratching the back of his neck as he did. Ochako perked up, leaning up and shaking his shoulder excitedly.

"It'll be fun, Deku-kun! You'll love it, I promise!" She told him before turning back to Tsuyu and Tokoyami and shooting them a thumbs up. "Let's go with horror!"

"W-wait, I just said I don't-" Izuku started before Uraraka jumped up and mushed a pillow against his face. With his protests out of the way, she smiled at Tsuyu who smiled back and moved to turn on the horror movie that Tokoyami had picked out: _The Hands That Grab_.

"Oooh! What's this one, Tokoyami?" Tooru asked, leaning up excitedly out of Ojiro's grasp. Tokoyami smiled as Tsuyu sat back down next to him, taking his hand immediately.

"It's a personal favorite. It's about a serial killer that finds creative ways to cut off his victim's hands and arms and uses them against his future victims," Tokoyami explained. Already, a chill ran down Midoriya's back. At this point, though, with Ochako clinging to his side, he didn't really have a choice in what to watch. Tooru cooed excitedly while Bakugo and Kirishima chuckled and giggled respectively.

"Anything that scares Deku shitless is good for me," Bakugo said, reclining on the couch and throwing his arm over the back of it. "Let's get this shit on the road."

Kirishima sat up, missing the ghost-like look of disappointment on Bakugo's face as he did.

"Oh, wait! We need movie snacks! I'll go check on Iida and Mei in the kitchen." The redhead exclaimed. He got up quickly, scrambling over the back of the couch. He rushed off into the kitchen. What followed was a series of strange noises: Something clearly running into a counter, a bowl falling, and Iida's trademark lecturing that seemingly echoed off of the walls. Once he quieted down, they also heard the clear and understanding voice of Yaoyorozu. Both her and Todoroki had chosen to come down and get tea earlier, but the rest of the group had, admittedly, forgotten they were there. The two weren't really intending to watch the movie with the rest of them that night.

Bakugo turned and looked over the back of the couch. Once he was certain that the others weren't already leaving the kitchen, he cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled: "HEY! SHITTY-HAIR, GLASSES, AND FUNNY EYES! GET THE FUCK OUT HERE SO WE CAN WATCH THE MOVIE!"

Tooru and Ochako snickered, but his tactical screaming seemed to do the work. Less than a minute later, Kirishima, Iida, and Mei all walked out of the kitchen together. Both Kirishima and Mei had big bowls of popcorn in their arms and Iida held two smaller bowls full of small, chocolate candies.

"I apologize for the wait, everyone!" Iida exclaimed once they all got into the lounge and put the bowls down. "This is a lot of popcorn and I had to stop Mei from trying to use one of her 'babies' to pop it all."

Mei sat down on the couch in the corner opposite Tooru and Ojiro and shrugged, waving her hand dismissively.

"I'm almost 80% sure it would've popped them just fine!" She complained. "Honestly, Iida, you worry too much sometimes!"

"I believe that that is a perfectly acceptable amount of worry!" He retorted, falling on the couch next to her. Despite their bickering, she leaned her head against his chest almost immediately.

Kirishima, who had retaken his place on the couch raised his hand in agreement. No one spoke about the fact that Bakugo was slowly running his hand through the other boy's hair.

"I second the worry! That thing looked a little _too_ volatile." The redhead commented, to which Bakugo snorted in response.

"If you don't mind the disruptions, would someone mind telling me what movie we've decided on?" Iida asked, looking toward Midoriya and Ochako, where the latter was still holding tightly onto the former.

"Horror move," Ojiro answered calmly. When Iida turned to face him, he shrugged and the invisible girl cuddled up against him giggled. "The majority of us agreed on it."

Anyone as close to him as Mei would have noticed the slight twitch of his right eye.

"And I'm guessing Midoriya is the only one who didn't necessarily agree?" He asked, crossing his arms once more. "He looks practically deadalready. I don't think he's up to the task."

Midoriya groaned in response as Iida continued. "Though, if the majority voted for it...," His eyes flashed over to the greenette again, guilt clear in his eyes. "Sorry, Midoriya. I guess it's up to the whole."

With another chorus of groans, his face fell into the pillow Ochako had smothered him with before. Tsuyu deftly shut the lights off with her tongue and Kirishima sat up, shooting his fist into the air excitedly.

"Aw yeah! Let's get this show on the road!" He exclaimed. He let his head fall onto Bakugo's shoulder, though not before he patted the top of Midoriya's green curls and smiled. "Sorry, bro."

Once the title screen rolled, Ochako leaned over to try and catch a glimpse of Midoriya's face. Rubbing circles in his back softly, she frowned.

"I'm sorry, Izuku-kun," she whispered, inching ever so closer. "I-If you get too scared, you can leave, okay? I-I'll go with you too!"

He finally sat up a little and shook his head.

"...'s okay, Uraraka-san. I-It's just a move. I-I should be fine," He said, though he was still pale.

She tilted her head in question, concern clear on her face. Midoriya looked at her and smiled. It was small and he was still pale, but it was a smile regardless.

"But thank you. I-I might have to hold you to that offer, though...," He tapered off just as a piercing, guttural, scream echoed out of the TV. He flinched but sighed quickly after. "J-Just maybe..."

Uraraka giggled a little and let her head fall against his shoulder. She hugged his arm even tighter against her chest and snuggled up to him.

"Alright. Just remember that if you have to go, I'm going with you." She told him, a smile on her face. He nodded, albeit shakily, and tried to relax into her hold on him.

* * *

It was clear that just twenty minutes in, Midoriya clearly wouldn't be able to handle the rest of the movie.

He had tried to distract himself in so many ways, but none of them had really worked. He'd tried to focus on specific parts of the screen—say, the top right corner for no reason—but _every_ pixel seemed to be used to make this movie as gory as possible.

From there, he'd tried to pay attention to literally anything else. Whether it be Tsuyu's bare reactions, the smile on Tokoyami's face, the frightened but excited shrieks of Tooru, Ochako, and Mei, or the usual chuckle and sarcastic comment from Bakugo. In the time that the movie had started, Izuku had picked up on _so many_ small things about them all, but he was afraid he wouldn't remember any of it past the night.

At some point, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu had moved from the kitchen and decided to join them. Now, they were sitting in the corner of the couch just above him, Todoroki in the corner with Yaoyorozu curled up next to him. Her gasps of surprise or her suppressed shrieks at the gore were enough to distract Midoriya for all of two minutes. After that, he'd resorted to trying to eat his problems away, though he quickly found out that he didn't really like popcorn that much and that the chocolate was just _messy_.

Once it got to the point in the movie where the serial killer had had at least six sets of disembodied hands on his side, which he would move around using his strange quirk, Midoriya had shrieked loud enough to make Bakugo burst out into laughter. Almost immediately from there, he stood up stiffly and walked out of the room, Ochako hot on his heels. They found themselves at the elevator on the girl's side of the dorm as Midoriya leaned against the wall, panting as if he'd run a marathon.

"Y-you know...," He started, turning back to look at his girlfriend. He had a shaky, nervous smile on his face that looked like it could fall apart at any time. "M-maybe I'll try the sc-scary movie thing another time...d-definitely not finishing the rest of that."

"Oh...th-that's okay! W-we can go upstairs and relax if you want to!" Ochako offered, waving her hands animatedly as she talked.

It took him a moment, but he sighed and nodded before turning and pushing his back against the wall.

"I-I'd like that a lot, Uraraka-san," He muttered. His eyes were closed, but he opened them and looked at her with a small smile. "Th-thank you."

Uraraka smiled and stepped over to press the button for the elevator. She leaned against the wall next to her boyfriend and smiled at him.

"Don't mention it, Izuku-kun." She told him, leaning her head down onto his shoulder. The two of them stood in silence until the elevator finally came and they wasted no time climbing in and pressing the button for Uraraka's floor. One of the others might've followed them, just to check in, but it was a bit late for that now. Standing in the elevator, Ochako had taken ahold of Izuku's arm, like she'd done when they were sitting downstairs, and the greenette barely seemed to register it—though if he did, then he just didn't care.

The elevator ride was short, thankfully, and Ochako made quick work out of guiding her still-scared boyfriend to her room as if he didn't know where it was already.

"Do you want me to find something lighthearted to watch?" She asked, shutting the door behind them. Her laptop—the one that her friends had pitched in to buy for her bless their souls—was sitting on her desk, still open from where she'd left it earlier that night.

Izuku shook his head. "No, that's alright. I-I'd like to just lie down if that's alright with you." He replied and she nodded with intense fervor.

"Okay! I'll lie down with you, okay? That way we can both get some sleep." She laughed out. Midoriya chuckled in response, making her light up with joy. Anything that helped him sound a little bit better was enough to make her feel better already.

Midoriya found her bed without turning the lights on and laid down immediately, pushing himself closer to the wall. Ochako followed suit and immediately curled up to his side. She could feel how tense he still was from the movie, but he quickly started to unwind.

"Th-thanks again, Uraraka-san," He whispered once the two of them were comfortable. "Honestly. I appreciate everything you do for me,"

With a lighthearted giggle, Ochako nuzzled her head into his neck and sighed.

"Mm, you're welcome, Izuku-kun," She muttered back before letting her eyes drift shut. "...I love you."

He turned onto his side and rested his chin against the top of her head. "I love you too."

* * *

 **This chapter segways directly into the next one, though not with these two. Keep that in mind.**


	11. Tea for Momo

Summary: After the events of the movie night, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu decide to have some tea to calm their(Mostly Momo's) nerves.

The night continues.

* * *

"You don't handle horror very well either, do you, Momo?" Shouto asked.

Embarrassed, Yaoyorozu nodded and let her head fall into her hands.

"I-I've tried it before, but, as you saw...," She gestured vaguely toward the lounge area, where some of their classmates had decided to stay. "I-I'm not very good at handling them still."

He shook his head. "I don't see a problem with that. The movies are made to scare you," He stated bluntly, crossing his arms over the dining table. "Why would you be embarrassed about being scared?"

Momo shook her head, sitting up just enough to look at him. They sat across from each other at the dining table.

"W-well, it just seems...childish, I suppose," She answered, looking away as her cheeks began to burn once more. "I-It feels like since I'm training to be a Hero, I shouldn't be getting scared of some...some stupid movie made to scare _children_."

Shouto merely looked at her for a moment, his gaze undecipherable. Momo's head fell into her hands again and she groaned.

"I don't think that movie is appropriate to show children, Momo," He said, as serious as ever. "If anything, it's probably made to specifically scare Heroes."

She giggled. "Why do I feel like Present Mic-sensei would be terrified of it?"

"Because he probably would be," Shouto answered. Momo smiled up at him and, finally seeing some semblance of happiness in her, he smiled back. "If it's meant to scare Heroes and you got scared, doesn't that just mean you're closer to being a Pro than you think? That's pretty amazing, Momo."

The black-haired girl blushed at his compliment and sat up, holding up her head with her hands.

"I-I don't think I'm that amazing..," She muttered, but Shouto could see the gratefulness on her face regardless. "Y-you're the amazing one, Shouto. Sometimes I..."

Todoroki raised an eyebrow. Leaning forward, he pulled one of her hands away from her face and held it between his own. She smiled at him and he smiled back, prompting her to go on, regardless of her thoughts.

"Sometimes I feel like I'll never catch up to you...," Momo whispered, grasping his hand as she spoke. "I-I just...you, Midoriya, Iida, and Bakugo...you're all so far ahead of the rest of us. I don't see how we...how _I_ am supposed to catch up. All the others are doing more than I am and I just...I just spent my internship shooting some dumb commercials and ads."

She looked away from him, and Shouto couldn't help but feel that he wasn't qualified for this. He had never been much of a people person and, while coming to U.A. had helped him a little bit, it still wasn't enough to make him comfortable with it all and it definitely didn't make him any _good_ at it. Talking about his feelings and sympathizing was the last thing he would be good at but, seeing the dejected look on Momo's face, he knew he had to do something.

"Stay here for a moment." He told her before standing up. She turned her head to follow his movements and he smiled down at her. Lifting her hands up, he kissed her knuckles before letting go and walking into the kitchen. Once he was out of sight, Momo sighed and let her head fall into her arms against the table.

Before they'd joined in on the movie night, the two of them had been sitting in the kitchen, drinking tea. It was an earthy blend, Momo had told him as she prepared it. It was supposed to keep you grounded, help you focus, and soothe your nerves. It was meant for relaxing and, right about now, a relaxing cup of tea was exactly what Momo needed. Thankfully, they had neglected to put away the teapot before they'd moved in to watch the movie, meaning most of the work was already done.

Shouto emptied the pot and started to make a brand new batch. The fresher the tea, the better. After that, he moved over to the large container of sugar and, carefully, measured out three scoops of sugar. It was a little too sweet for his taste, but it was how Momo liked it, so he'd make it as best he could.

Soon, he had her mug, designed by Jiro and Mina and the other girls for her birthday with her name and countless stickers, filled with as much sugar as she liked and was waiting for the pot to finish brewing. He contemplated making himself a mug as well but thought against it. He wasn't making tea for the fun of it. He was making tea because Momo needed comfort and, since he thought he couldn't do it completely himself, that mug of tea would practically be a Godsend.

After what felt like a decade, the teapot finally rang out, letting him know that the tea was done. He poured it into her mug, mixed it with the little spoon he'd seen her use earlier, and picked it up, making his way back into the dining room.

Once he got back, he wasted no time in walking around and setting the mug down in front of Momo. She still had her head in her hands, though, so Shouto sat next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking her slightly.

"Momo," He whispered to her, leaning down to try and catch a glimpse of her face but to no avail. "I've made you a cup of tea. Sit up, please?"

He was worried she'd ignore him and stay down or that she had fallen asleep but, after a moment, she sat up and sighed. Immediately, her hands latched around the mug and she flashed Shouto a small, grateful, smile.

"Thank you, Shouto," She eeked out, her voice barely that of a whisper. If he weren't already as close as he was, Todoroki feared her wouldn't have heard her at all. "I-I'm sorry...I didn't mean to just drop that on you..."

"Stop it, Momo. You don't need to apologize," he responded simply. Rubbing small circles on her back, he continued. "It's better to talk about it than it is to hold it in," He hesitated before leaning slightly closer. "You can tell me anything, you know."

She seemed to shy away from his prying eyes.

"I-I know I can, but...I don't want to waste your time with something small." She eventually said, taking a sip of the tea he had made for her. A satisfied sigh slipped through her lips. Shouto chuckled, tilting his head.

"That sounds like what I said, way back when you found me training that night," He responded. Her brows flared in recognition, but he kept going. "And if that's the case, then I'll tell you the same thing you told me,"

"No matter what, your issues won't bother me. As long as you're willing to ask for help, I'll be willing to help you," He stated as if it was the easiest thing in the world for him to say. "Because I care about you, Momo. I don't want to see you get hurt in any way. "

He heard a whimper come from her before she set the mug down and seemed to fold in on herself once more. Shouto quickly moved from rubbing circles on her back to looping his arm around her and pulling her head into his chest.

"I'm sorry," He muttered, shoving his face into her hair. It smelled like lavender, a fact that he had long since known and come to enjoy. "Maybe that wasn't the right thing to say. I'm...not well-versed in this department."

Momo sniffled and pulled her head up, though not enough for her to see Shouto's face. Instead, she was staring at the mug of tea sitting on the table in front of them. It was still steaming and, coupled with Shouto's mere presence and his words seemed to be enough to let her calm down for the time being.

"No, no, no, that was...that was very good, Shouto," She murmured, giggling softly as she did. "Th-thank you. To think, my own words would be used against me. How strange."

Shouto shrugged nonchalantly. "If it fits, I see no reason not to use it," He stated, tilting his head. "I just want to convey my...feelings to you."

He shuffled and turned her around by her shoulders so that he could see her face. Immediately, Momo's face turned a deep red and she felt a need to look away. Despite that, though, she didn't and locked eyes with her boyfriend.

"I do care about you, Momo, and I want to be able to help you," He told her, his voice eerily soothing to her ears. "I-I'm sorry about...moving so quickly. I never meant to leave you behind and, while Bakugo says he's trying to do so, none of the others mean that either. I will gladly stop and help you get ahead of me to make you happy."

Finally, Momo looked away. It wasn't out of shame, though, she realized. As the corners of her eyes filled with tears and she brought a hand up to cover her mouth and prevent a sob from slipping out of her, Momo realized that she was just insanely _happy_.

She flung her arms around Shouto's neck and pulled him into a hug, burying her face into his neck. As if it was second nature, his arms curled around her and he pulled her deeper into his embrace. Despite her best efforts, a sob escaped her, though it quickly turned into a pleased laugh.

"Th-thank you, Shouto," She eeked out in between sobs and shuddering laughs. "Thank you...so much. For everything. Not just this little moment, but for...for standing by me at all. H-honestly and, I mean this from the absolute bottom of my heart, y-you...you mean the world to me."

His breathing hitched up and his cheeks turned as red as the right side of his hair. Following her example, he looked away bashfully.

"And you said I was the one who had a way with words...," He muttered, causing her to laugh openly. Looking at her, specifically, her beautiful smile, was enough to make Todoroki smile himself. "And you don't need to thank me. I'd stand by you regardless, Momo. I..." _Love you_ , he wanted to say. Something made him stop, though. Something...something that he couldn't understand. Was it...was it _insecurity_? Could he really be afraid of...love, of all things?

Shouto hesitated, which Momo caught. She pulled away, just enough to see his face, and tilted her head in question. Her eyebrows were knit with worry.

"Shouto? Is something wrong?" Momo asked him. When he didn't answer, she cupped his cheeks and leaned closer, so much that their noses were barely an inch apart. "Y-you sounded like you were about to say some-thmph!"

The distance between them was quickly negated as Shouto easily captured Momo's lips with his own. She was taken aback for only a few moments before she reciprocated the kiss, sighing into the contact.

Both Yaoyorozu and Todoroki were rather reclused people. On their own, they weren't likely to be physically inclined to do much of anything. Even in their relationship, they weren't exactly openly physical, especially around their classmates. So for Shouto to take the initiative like that, despite the fact that their classmates were literally a room away...it made Momo a lot happier than she'd like to admit.

The kiss ended far too early for Momo's taste, but she couldn't exactly complain. Once he pulled back, Shouto sighed and looked away from her, his face red.

"Talking isn't my strong suit," He whispered, almost deathly quiet. "So I thought...actions speak louder than words...th-that wasn't dumb or anything, was it?"

Momo smiled and shook her head. In her head, she promised to remember the look on his face when he'd said that. It wasn't every day that she saw Shouto Todoroki of all people flustered to even the smallest extent.

"It was perfect, Shouto," She told him, letting her forehead fall against his chest. Like earlier, his arms wrapped around her almost instinctively. "I-I think I get the gist of what you're feeling."

He made a sound of approval and rested his head against hers. They sat in silence, and in each other's embrace, for a moment before he responded again.

"Good. You mean a lot to me, too." He finally said. Momo smiled and, thankful that he couldn't see her red face because of their position, settled for nodded against his chest.

The mug of tea Todoroki had made sat on the table, still steaming cooly. At this point, though, it was mostly forgotten but, despite that, Shouto couldn't help but think that the tea was magical, somehow. It was a strange train of thought, admittedly, but it made sense to him. Momo had said it was supposed to relax and it had done exactly that and then some. Was it wrong of him to think that, in some way, a higher power was involved?

Maybe it was. Maybe he was just reading too hard into a good result. Either way, Shouto was relieved that she had suggested it to him that night. It was his saving grace, to make tea for Momo.


	12. By The Water's Edge

Summary: After the movie, the others begin to get a bit too loud in the lounge. Wanting to find a quiet place, Tokoyami offers to lead Tsuyu away from the others in order to have some solace.

The night continues.

* * *

"Dammit, Kirishima! Who the FUCK told you it was a good idea to pour soda into the popcorn?!"

"It was a mistake! An honest to god mistake! Come on, Katsuki, you wouldn't harm me, would ya?"

"Like hell I wouldn't!"

Tokoyami sighed, nursing his growing headache with the tip of his fingers. Ever since the movie had ended, the scene had only grown chaotic. It'd be bad enough with just Bakugo around, but Hatsume was here as well and she clearly wasn't above instigating conflict.

"I heard him talking about whether coke or orange soda was better!"

"H-hey, that is completely unrelated!"

"And you CLEARLY went with coke! I'm gonna fucking kill you!"

"W-wait, Katsuki, calm down!"

Tsuyu croaked from her spot next to him, watching the scene unfold. Her eyes jumped to him and she tilted her head.

"You don't look very comfortable, Fumikage-chan." She pointed out and the bird-headed boy had to sigh in agreement.

"I'm feeling the onset of a headache if I'm honest," He told her, turning away from his classmates to give her his full attention. "I would advise we go to either of our rooms, but I fear we'd still be able to hear the noise from upstairs."

The frog girl nodded. "I was thinking the same thing. Do you have any other ideas?"

Tokoyami hummed in thought and cupped his chin with his free hand; The other still holding onto his girlfriend's. Somewhere in between Iida chewing out the other three and Bakugo literally _flinging_ the bowl of soda-soaked popcorn at his boyfriend, Tokoyami snapped his fingers.

"Ah, I know," He said, turning to her again before continuing. "I was out exploring the campus a few days when I came across something just at the borders of the school. There's a calm pond nearby in the forest. Would you care to join me, Tsu?"

Croaking happily, she stood up and Tokoyami followed her to his feet.

"Of course, ribbit," She told him, tightening her hold on his hand slightly. "You don't even have to ask. Lead me there?"

He smiled and turned toward the door, bringing her with him. "Of course. It's not far, I promise."

Their own Iida, so distracted with yelling at Bakugo and Kirishima and at his own girlfriend, didn't notice as Tokoyami and Tsuyu, while hand-in-hand, dashed out of the front door and shut it quietly behind them. The two of them had gotten a fair distance from the dorms before Tsuyu reached forward and stopped Tokoyami with a hand on his arm.

"Hold on, Fumi," She told him, sputtering to a stop with her boyfriend following suit. "How big is the pond?"

"How big?" He asked for confirmation. She nodded and Tokoyami cupped his chin once more, shutting his eyes to think. "As big as the lounge, I would say. It's a wonder that no one else has found it. Why do you ask?"

Tsuyu smiled. "Do you think we could stop by my room before we head off? I want to grab something, ribbit." She told him. He nodded, agreeing immediately before he tilted his head, curiosity clear in his eyes.

"Am I allowed to ask why?" He commented as she pulled him back toward the dorm building. Asui shook her head and he sighed. "Very well. If we're stopping at your room, though, maybe we shouldn't go back through the front door. The others will assume the worst."

She slowed down and jabbed her finger into her lip. "Oh. You're right. Do you think we could get back behind the girls' side of the dorms, then? I keep the door to my balcony unlocked."

Tokoyami nodded and began to walk back in the other direction, pulling her with him. "I don't see why not. Maybe we should be quick about it, though. It's the weekend, sure, but Aizawa-sensei likes to show up at unprecedented times."

Tsuyu smiled and caught up with him. "I was going to say the same thing, ribbit. Come on, let's go. I feel like you'll like the surprise."

* * *

In the end, it was more much work finding Tsu's room than it should have been. None of the girls left much of anything on their balcony's, which made it much harder to pinpoint which room was hers. They tried to find it by the floor, but there was little to no distinction between any of them which was an entirely new task all in itself. Tsuyu could have jumped high enough to reach the first-floor balcony's, but jumping from those to the next ones proposed a much more difficult task. Instead, Tokoyami simply used Dark Shadow to lift her into the air and run her across each balcony to find her room. By looking through the balcony windows, it shortened how long it took to find her room. By the time they had found it, only about ten minutes or so had gone by. Standing all the way at ground level, though, Tokoyami was left with only Dark Shadow as his company, something that proved to be worse than one would think.

"What if she's grabbing a bathing suit?" Dark asked, cupping his chin like Fumi usually did.

Tokoyami raised an eyebrow, his arms crossed over his chest. Dark held his hands out in mock surrender.

"Now hold on, just think about it!" He whined. "You're taking her to a pond, right? Her quirk makes her frog-like, right? We already know how much she likes to swim, _right_? It makes sense!"

The bird-headed boy squinted at him, trying to find some way to break through his logic, but found that he couldn't. In the end, he sighed and rubbed his temples.

"You've said something that makes even a semblance of sense," Tokoyami complained, his eyes closed. "I fear the end of the world is upon us if that's the case."

Dark Shadow grinned and cheered, to which Tokoyami turned to him and shushed him angrily.

"Have you forgotten that we aren't supposed to be out right now?" He questioned. Dark seemed to shrink in on himself slightly and shrugged.

"Eheheh, whoops?" He ventured. When Fumikage's glare didn't lessen, he clasped his hands together. "Oh look! Tsu-chan is coming back down, I guess we'd better get moving, huh?"

"You'd better not-!" Fumi started, only for Dark Shadow to slip back into his body as soon as he was finished talking. He heard the sound of a door closing and turned around just in time to see Tsuyu leap over the railing of her balcony, landing gracefully on the ground next to him. She held a plastic bag in one hand, too dark for Tokoyami to see what was in it. Now that the thought was in his head, he couldn't help but think about what the potential bathing suit could look like.

"You two talk loud," She stated bluntly as she stood up, sweeping her hand down her legs. "I could only hear you because I left the balcony door open, though. Let's hope everyone shuts their windows."

"You ah...you heard all of that?" Tokoyami asked meekly. When Tsu turned to him and nodded, he covered his beak and averted his eyes. "H-How trivial. Dark seems to have a problem keeping his mouth shut most of the time. I apologize, Tsu."

"Don't worry about it," She replied easily, slipping her free hand into his. "At the very least, Dark Shadow was right. I just wanted to swim, ribbit."

Fumikage cringed as Dark cheered again, only this time louder and in his head.

"Well...good for him. It'll be my headache, but I suppose he deserves to be right sometimes."

Tsuyu croaked, laughing, and the slight pain in his head vanished in an instant. He gripped her hand and smiled, starting forward.

"That aside, let's get going. I'm sure you'll enjoy the pond." He told her. Tsu smiled in response and they walked off, quickly melting into the shadows that the trees provided.

* * *

"Now, if I remember correctly...," Tokoyami started, pushing branches out of his way as he walked onward. "...It should be just ahead of this bit here."

He held the branches to the side as Tsuyu followed after him. Once she was clear, he let go and kept onward, his hand still held tightly in hers. The walk was mostly silent, save for Tokoyami trying to pry a little more information out of his girlfriend about the bathing suit she'd brought with her. She refused to answer any questions, though, and constantly assured him that it was a surprise that she was sure he'd like. While it made some part of him a bit uneasy, the majority of him was excited to see it. In his opinion, Tsuyu looked great in everything she wore.

They pushed through another set of branches and finally came upon the pond. Surrounded by bushes and trees that conveniently didn't extend over the lake's surface, keeping it's water pristine, the pond was a clear blue that seemed to shine in the moonlight. Standing in it, it only came up to his knees, meaning it'd come close to Tsuyu's waist since she was shorter than him.

Off to their right was the small clearing that Tokoyami frequented. The grass was pressed close to the ground because of how often he sat there, be it in thought or in meditation, and it was bordered by small rocks that he'd stacked up in an effort to keep the bugs away. It worked, for the most part, but only for the bugs that didn't have wings. For the ones that did, though, Tokoyami had found a solution.

"Wait a moment, Tsu," He said before walking around the outskirts of the pond toward the clearing. Once he got there, he had to stop to think and try and remember. It took only a moment since he'd come back to the pond almost every other week or so, and once he remembered, he snapped his fingers, pleased with himself. Reaching up and behind one of the many trees behind his clearing, he strained for a moment before coming back down with a small bundle of cloth in his hands. Tsuyu, standing a bit away with her back against a tree, tilted her head and jabbed her thumb against her lip.

"What's that, Fumikage-chan?" She asked, leaning up to try and get a better look. Tokoyami turned to face her as he unraveled the cloth, revealing just simple black blankets inside of it.

"A couple of blankets. I like to lay one over the ground and hang the other one over it," He told her, unfolding the blankets themselves. Just as he said, he immediately laid one on the ground and kept the other underneath his arm. "It's more of a personal comfort than anything if I'm honest."

Tsuyu nodded. "That sounds like something you'd do, Fumi," Walking closer to him, she dropped her bag on the blanket and smiled. "It's a good idea if you wanna avoid the bugs. Is that why you put it up?"

Tokoyami finished slinging the second blanket over the branches and, once he was pleased with it, sat down and sighed.

"You read me so easily," He chuckled and let himself lie back, relaxing into the blanket. "They're alright, I suppose. When you're trying to relax, though, you'd really rather not have bugs crawling about you the entire time."

Giggling, Tsuyu kicked her shoes off and stepped into the pond. Instinctively, she croaked. "That's fair. The water's a little colder than I thought it'd be."

"Is that a problem?" He opened one eye, watching as she turned back around and knelt down to open the bag.

"No. Just surprised, is all," She responded before catching his eyes. "No peaking, Fumikage-chan."

He closed his eyes again, his dark cheeks beginning to burn with a blush.

"O-Of course not. That'd be inappropriate," He deemed, to which his girlfriend giggled again. "T-take your time, if you need it."

"I won't," She replied quickly and Tokoyami could hear the rustling of clothes from somewhere. Dark Shadow's incessant cry of _**Open your eyes!**_ made it that much harder to ignore. "It's a one-piece. They're easy to put on."

"S-so it would seem," Fumikage held his arm over his eyes, sighing. "You know...I wish I had known a little earlier. I could've gotten in the water with you, Tsu."

There was a bit more rustling of clothes before Tsu replied. "I know you don't like to swim that often. I didn't want it to be a hassle for you," He heard her jacket hit the ground. "I'm done now, ribbit."

Sitting up, his eyes met her face before he noticed anything else.

"It wouldn't have been a hassle," He told her, holding his head upon his knee. "I'm happy to spend time with you, no matter what we're doing."

She croaked and knelt down in front of him, their faces mere inches apart.

"You say that, but I can't help but feel that you don't enjoy a lot of the stuff I like doing," She admitted meekly. "I don't know. A lot of the things I like are somewhat water related, but you don't really like it in your feathers. It clashes."

Reaching forward, he let his hands rest on her shoulders and closed a bit of the distance between them.

"Maybe it used to be like that," He shut his eyes, thinking before he continued. "But it's not anymore. I've actually taken a liking to more of those things now. The rain is a joy to me and, thanks to your little lessons, swimming is a lot of fun as well. I'll admit, the feeling of it weighing down my feathers is a bit of a pain...,"

Tsu averted her eyes, but Tokoyami reached up, delicately placing his hands over her cheeks to pull her head back so he could see her again. In the moonlight, her dark eyes were truly beautiful.

"...But that's a problem I'm willing to deal with if it means making you happy. I can't bear the sight of you looking sad at all, Tsu. I would...greatly prefer it if you would smile."

He couldn't hold her eyes anymore and she looked down but made no effort to move his hands at all. Instead, though, her own hands ghosted over his for a moment before falling against them and staying there.

In Fumikage's head, Dark Shadow was silent. Maybe the shadowbeast had gone off to sleep, though it was possible that the moment had stunned him into silence. Tokoyami wouldn't blame him though, as seemingly all the words left him after he'd shut his mouth. The small contact they were making—just his hands on her cheeks and her own hands over his—was enough to burn through his skin and it kept him grounded.

"Fumi," Tsuyu whispered after what felt like a lifetime. Tokoyami perked up, leaning in a bit closer and straining to hear her. "Can I kiss you?"

Dark cheeks turning red, he hesitated before nodding. It had, admittedly, been a fickle topic between them. What with his beak, he was afraid it would be an awkward thing to do and wanted to save Tsuyu the embarrassment of dealing with it. Save from kisses on the cheek or very chaste kisses that she would place just at the edge of his beak, neither of them had legitimately kissed the other.

"You shouldn't have to ask." He muttered in response, which brought a small smile to Asui's face. Despite what he said, though, his heart _definitely_ skipped a beat when she began to lean in and, deciding to just go along with it, he followed suit and lean in as well.

The kiss didn't last long but, in both their opinions, it really didn't have to. Contrary to what Tokoyami had thought before, the kiss was only pleasant the entire way through and, if the pleased sigh that slipped through Asui's lips was any indicator, she thought so as well.

"Your beak...," She commented after a while, her finger prodding at her lip. Tokoyami tilted his head, looking at her questioningly. "It's...a lot different than I thought it'd be."

"Hm? Well, it's not exactly the same as a bird's beak," He grabbed his own beak to accentuate. "It's kind of...softer and a bit easier to get around. It's only that hard by appearance."

"That makes sense, ribbit," Tsuyu touched her own lips lightly. His beak was definitely soft. A lot softer than she'd expected. It was _really_ nice. "...Kiss me again."

"A-Again?" He asked, almost incredulously. That didn't stop him from leaning forward to comply, though. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't wanted to do it again, anyway.

It didn't dawn on him at all that Tsu was still wearing the bathing suit that she'd brought with her—a simple dark green piece with frills around the waist and a black back. It hugged her nicely and, once he noticed, he found that he couldn't focus on trying to kiss her anymore; Not while his embarrassment flared up that hard.

"I-It appears we've forgotten that we came to a pond, Tsu." He pulled his shoes off, setting them to the side alongside hers. "I might not be able to swim with you, but I can at least get my legs wet to be closer."

"You're right." Tsu pulled herself away from him and walked slowly into the water. With the moonlight hitting her, Tokoyami could see the slight blush on her cheeks. He felt a sense of pride, knowing that he could do that to her. "Roll your pants legs up. I'll try to keep close, okay?"

He did as she said, rolling the legs of his pants up to his knees before following her and sitting by the water's edge with his legs in the water. It was definitely a lot colder than he'd expected and it sent a shiver up his spine.

"You don't have to do that for me. You can have fun however you wish, Tsu." Tokoyami watched as she let herself fall into the water and then dunk herself into it. When she came back out, her hair was glistening wet and her eyes were wide. "I'll be over here watching."

She smiled, Fumikage's heart fluttering as she did, and then dove back into the water. With his hand holding up his head, the bird-headed boy watched his girlfriend as she gleefully swam around the pond, the light from the moon illuminating her movements and making sure he didn't stop watching for even a moment. Even without, he doubted he'd take her eyes off of her. After all, how could he? She was far too beautiful.

* * *

 **Just an added note, I graduated high school today. I'm finally getting tossed into the real world and i'm ready to suffer _so goddamn much_.**

 **Hopefully that means I'll have a lot more time to write, provided I can stay motivated.**

 **Thanks for reading, Dantikat out.**


	13. Important Notice

I posted this update on the Archive, but I ended up forgetting to cross-post it here. Sorry about that,

* * *

Yo, it's been a while, hasn't it?

I know that when you usually see 'Important Notice' in stories like this, it's because they're getting canceled. That's not the case here, though.

This is mostly just because I've been MIA for about a month and, to all of my readers who follow this story, I'm really sorry about that. The truth is that I graduated high school recently and was swamped for a few days with that, only for my internet to go out immediately after. It only came back recently and I've realized that a lot of my writing for this series has actually been lost somehow.

Before I'd had chapters written up to at least chapter 24, but now I've lost most of that and I have to rewrite it all. For now, I only have chapters 14 and 15 still written up, but they aren't completely done.

I hope to get back into this story soon, but now I'm preparing to go off to college, so I may be a bit busier.

I'm sorry for being gone for so long, but I promise I'll step up my game.

Thanks for reading and, if you still are, thanks for following the story.

Dantikat out,


	14. Co-Op Training

Summary: Izuku is ready to test out a new form of training but in order to make it work how he wants it to, Ochako offers to help him out so that they can train together.

* * *

"Let's see...The targets are all set up...though Aizawa-sensei did tell me not to use them for too long...and not to damage them since we need them for class soon...," Izuku grabbed his chin, rubbing it contemplatively. For his training to work, he had to be able to gauge his power somehow and, without being able to damage the targets, it was nearly impossible to do. The problem was, though, that he didn't have any other way of doing his training without the targets. He had thought about just setting up his own things at the end of the gym and using _those_ as targets, but Midoriya didn't really have anything that was expendable enough for him to use. No matter how he thought of it, he was stuck in a bit of a corner.

Sighing, he flicked the switch against the wall and the targets, whirring with mechanical life, slid back into their places inside the floors or in the walls.

"How am I supposed to practice my Air Force if I don't have any targets..?" He questioned himself, cupping his chin in thought. The majority of the other students were off doing their own things; Bakugo and Kirishima had left the campus earlier that morning, Iida was training with Mei, and the others—save for Jiro and Kaminari who had snuck off somewhere together—were all doing the same. Izuku didn't want to bother anyone by selfishly asking for help and he slumped in defeat, sighing heartily.

The doors to Gym Gamma opened with a loud thud as they hit the back walls. Midoriya turned, confusion clear on his face, to see who had decided to come by. Most of the others had neglected to come to Gym Gamma for purely combat training and instead went off to do other things, like basic endurance, stamina, or strength training. Midoriya, Kirishima, and Kaminari had been the only ones to go to Gym Gamma in order to improve their quirks.

Speaking of the two other boys, Midoriya hadn't seen them since they'd all come in together. Occasionally, he'd heard the familiar zapping sound of Kaminari's quirk, but that was about it. Cementoss had apologized to Midoriya before running off to watch over the other two. Usually, someone would have to be with him, but the teachers were stretched a bit thin as it was. Because of how basic his training was to be that day, Cementoss was confident that Midoriya wouldn't need him to watch over him excessively.

"So, what is it that you wanted to focus on today, Uraraka-san?"

Ectoplasm shut the door behind him and Ochako and turned to face her. The girl in questioned pounded her fist into her open palm in response.

"I want to try and increase the number of things I can keep floating with my quirk at once. Before, I was doing endurance training and trying to increase the amount of _weight_ I could handle." She told him, animatedly moving her hands as she spoke. "I figured it'd be better to even out my training by doing both, one after the other, instead of letting one get ahead of the other."

Their math teacher nodded approvingly.

"Sounds like a decent strategy. I'll watch over you and," His eyes flashed over to Deku, who had been standing against the wall, silent. "Midoriya while you train. I can only assume Cementoss is with the others."

Using his quirk, Ectoplasm made a clone that he sent over to the other end of the gym.

"I'll check in with Cementoss. You can start your training now, Uraraka. If you need any pointers, don't hesitate to ask me."

"Mhm! Thank you!" She called after him as the clone walked away, stalking toward the other end of the gym. Ectoplasm himself walked off and stood close to the wall, watching the two students from afar. As soon as he had walked off, Ochako turned around, catching sight of Midoriya near the wall. She grinned, wide and with a hint of insecurity, before jogging over to him. He stood up to meet her, waving nervously.

"Deku-kun! I forgot you had come over here earlier. Hows your training been going?" She asked as soon as she got to him. She grabbed his outstretched hand and he smiled, his nerves calming.

"A-ah, well...n-not too well, if I'm being honest," The greenette rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. "I'm not really allowed to use the built-in targets because Aizawa-sensei needs them later today and Cementoss-sensei won't be here to make a new one because he has classes too. I-I haven't made much progress because I can't really think of something to use. I want to practice my Air Force, you know?"

Ochako hummed, cupping her chin. She tilted her head and her bangs fell gently against her cheeks.

"Hmm...oh! I have a great idea!" She suddenly exclaimed, clapping loudly. The grin on her face was large and full of life. "We can combine our training! I'm training to see how many things I can keep floating at once with my quirk instead of training how much weight I can float."

Midoriya picked up almost immediately and snapped, smiling along with her himself.

"Ah! So you can float an increasing number of rocks and rubble and things like that in the air and I can use them as target practice for my Air Force!" He crossed his arms and smiled so bright, Uraraka felt like she could go blind. "You're a genius, Ochako!"

Her cheeks began to burn red with blush. Cupping them with her hands, she looked away bashfully.

"A-ah, I-I don't think so...," She murmured before pushing her index fingers together, still looking away."I-I mean, it was already on my mind, y'know? I-It just came to me..."

"That's what makes it a brilliant idea, Uraraka-san," He commented before leaning down so that she could see him. "You're great. Honestly, I don't think I would've thought of that if you hadn't brought it up."

She smiled at him, only slightly nervous. "Th-thanks, Deku-kun...y-you're getting good at this whole...r-relationship thing."

Now it was Izuku's turn to blush and turn bashful. "Y-you think so? I-I'm just...trying to say what I think is right. I-Is it working? O-or am I doing alright? I-I guess I am if you said so...h-haha..."

The both of them dropped and turned quiet, furiously blushing and thinking their own thoughts, before Ochako piped up, suddenly excited again.

"L-Let's get to training! With the both of our plans mixed together, it'll be a lot easier for us to grow! And, if we need to, we can bounce ideas off of each other! What do you say, Deku-kun?"

Midoriya nodded, dropping his fist into his open palm. "Mhm! Let's get to it, Uraraka-san!"

* * *

"Can you handle one or two more, Uraraka-san?"

"If they're this small, sure! That'll make 40 rocks in the air. Do you want to time it this time too?"

"Yeah. I have to work on aiming faster. If it takes too long, it's too easy to hit. I have to work on my speed."

"Mm! You can do it, Deku-kun!"

Midoriya nodded, a slight smile on his face. Looking away from his girlfriend and up to the 40, head-sized rocks floating in the air, he took a deep breath and lifted his arm up, clasping his other hand around his wrist.

"Okay! Starting the timer...now!" Ochako called and Midoriya immediately let the first shot of his Air Force fly straight. It hit the first rock and it exploded into dust, though Izuku had already moved onto the next target. It took him a moment—one that he would consider too long—to readjust his fingers and flick out the next shot. The rock turned to dust before his eyes and he moved on, repeating the process for the next one.

Ochako watched on in rapt fascination, though she couldn't push down the slight feeling of nausea creeping into the pit of her stomach. Midoriya had a look of pure concentration on his face and every time he messed up, she watched as he wasted no time in pulling himself together and moving on. She admired that about him. He absolutely refused to give up and, once his mind was made up on doing something, nothing would stop him from doing it.

All Might had often told them that being stubborn was both a good and bad thing. In private, he'd used Midoriya himself as an example. Stubbornness meant you wouldn't give up, but it also meant that you'd neglect yourself in favor of whatever task you were focusing on. Ochako couldn't help but admit that he'd nailed Midoriya's nature directly on the head when he'd told them that.

Still, she couldn't help but look up to him sometimes. His drive was uncanny and Ochako truly thought that, because of his nature, he'd become the best hero out of all of them.

The last floating target exploded into dust and Uraraka pressed down on the button to stop the timer as soon as it had been demolished. She released her quirk and quickly ran over to meet with Midoriya. The greenette was sweating, wiping his brow with his arm. She didn't know how much it took out of him to constantly use his new ranged attack, but it must have been a lot if the slight shake in his arm was any indication.

"How'd I do, Uraraka-san?" He asked, breathing heavily. She looked down at the stopwatch and then turned it's face to him, smiling happily.

"32 seconds! That's 6 or so seconds faster than before, Deku-kun!" She clapped excitedly and he smiled, letting his head fall and lurch as he took deep breaths. "I'm so impressed! You managed to improve in such a short time! You really are amazing...Izuku-kun."

Midoriya felt tingles go across his neck and extend down his neck. Hearing her say his name always felt...special, to him. Intimate, even. It made him blush, turning his face as red as Kirishima's hair.

"W-well, I want to be the greatest hero I can be...I-I like to think that if I'm constantly training, then I can only get better. I won't have time to get any worse or to slack off."

"That's really admirable, Izuku-kun," Uraraka commented, looking away. "I wish I had your drive. It feels like I'm just following you a lot."

"E-eh? Following me?" He asked, incredulous. "I-I find that hard to believe. A-after all, I spent a lot of my time just following All Might. S-so maybe following isn't that big an issue! As long as you find your own way eventually, r-right?"

Ochako tilted her head, humming in thought. All Might was Deku's hero, and maybe...just maybe...maybe she would admit that Deku was _her_ hero. It did make sense to follow him, then...right?

She cupped her cheeks, which had began to turn red with blush, and shook her head.

"R-right! L-let's keep training. Ectoplasm-sensei could be back at any moment. He'll think we're slacking if he sees us doing nothing." She told him. He perked up and nodded, stretching his arms a little.

"Right. What's your limit right now, Uraraka-san?" Midoriya asked, flexing his fingers as he spoke.

Ochako counted on her fingers before responding with; "Probably somewhere around 45 or 46 rocks of that same size. I could feel it at 40, but it felt far off."

He nodded. "Do you want to stop at 45 for now, or do you want to try and push yourself?"

Smiling, she flexed her arm, resting her hand against it at the same time. "We can do 45 first, then I'll try for 50! I'm not improving if I'm not pushing myself, right?"

"Definitely. Let's get back to it." The two of them nodded before Ochako turned to run back to her spot from earlier.

"Ready when you are, Deku-kun!" She called out, to which Midoriya shot her a thumbs up. The familiar emerald electricity of Full Cowling surrounded his body and the greenette quickly turned, dashing and smashing into a large rock off to his side. Ochako followed him, running through the rubble to find the most suitable rocks. It wasn't hard, seeing as Izuku was getting better at controlling how hard he split up the rubble.

Once she'd found enough and had touched them all with her quirk, she dashed back to her spot from before and let the rocks float into the air. She fished the timer out of her pocket and looked back to Midoriya, who had crouched back into his stance from before. As soon as she nodded at him and pressed the button to start the countdown, Midoriya sprang into action with his Air Force immediately.

Ochako watched as he jumped back in and she couldn't help but think again: ' _He really will be the greatest hero one day,_ '

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and sticking by me after all this time. I know it's a pain waiting for a couple months, especially because I used to update every week, but I'm trying to catch back up with my writing. I don't have a timetable because predicting the future is hard as hell, but I'm trying and that's a lot more than I thought I'd be able to say.**

 **Thanks again, hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Dantikat, out.**


	15. Red-Headed Hiking

Summary: Since they're running out of time to do it, Bakugo is interested in taking a day off from the school campus in order to go out and hike for a bit. There's a good area nearby, and Katsuki decides to invite Kirishima, under the guise that he simply wanted to get out for the day.

* * *

"Oy. Eijiro. Let's go hiking before we run out of time." Bakugo stated. Kirishima looked back at him, an eyebrow raised. The two of them were sitting in the kitchenette of the dorm, with Kirishima kneeling in front of the fridge and Bakugo standing against the counter, his hands placed on the countertop.

"Hiking?" The redhead asked, standing up and shutting the fridge door. He had two bottles of water in his hands, one of which he quickly passed to the other boy. "You think we can get out there around now?"

"Why wouldn't we be able to?" Katsuki asked, only a sliver of malice in his voice. "The trail I have in mind is open year-round, except in the winter, and they don't really care too much about how long you're out there as long as you come back."

Kirishima rolled his eyes and leaned against the counter across from Bakugo.

"That's not what I meant," He retorted, twisting the cap off of his bottle and taking a short drink. "Classes start up again tomorrow, Katsuki. How long do you expect us to be out there?"

Bakugo crossed his arms, though the water bottle in his hand was surprisingly completely intact.

"Does it matter?" He replied. "Eraserhead gave us a curfew, sure, but it's not like anyone follows it."

At Eijiro's furrowed brow, Bakugo groaned.

"Fine! If we leave in an hour, we can have a couple hours on the trail and I can get us back before curfew." He scowled, his eyes narrowing as he watched the redhead. "Is that good enough for you?"

Kirishima drank from his own bottle again and noticed that, even with his little show there, Bakugo hadn't harmed the bottle in his hand at all. He smiled his usual sharp smile and nodded.

"I was gonna agree anyway, Katsuki," He said, leaning up off of the counter. "It's like you said. No one follows the curfew anyway. I mean, except maybe Iida."

Bakugo smirked and stood up as well, finally uncapping his own bottle to take a drink from it.

"What, Glasses?" He asked. Just the fact that he'd responded to his name was enough to show that he knew everyone in their class. He was just an asshole about it. "Think again. I've seen him out after curfew before."

Kirishima looked back to Bakugo with amazement on his face.

"What? Really?! Iida, of all people?" He asked, incredulous, though still with his shark-like grin on his face. "What was he out doing?"

Katsuki shrugged. Thinking back on it, he remembered it pretty well. After all, it was pretty hard to ignore the pink fucking hair his girlfriend had and the fact that she was loud and proud made it even easier to remember. There was no way he'd tell Kirishima that, though.

"Fuck all if I know," He responded instead. "I saw him come back in pretty late, but that's about it."

Eijiro wasn't falling for it, though.

"Aw, come on Katsuki!" He complained, tapping the other boy's shoulder with his closed fist. "You had to have seen something, right? Spill it!"

"Dammit, Eijiro, I told you I didn't see shit!" He yelled back. "Ask him yourself if you wanna know so damn badly!"

"But he won't tell me and you know he won't! Share the details, Katsuki, C'mon!"

"How many times do I have to say it, fuck off!"

* * *

"It's a lot easier getting out here than I thought it'd be," Kirishima commented, listlessly from the side, as Bakugo walked on ahead.

"It's really close," The blond responded, his voice eerily calm. "A lot of people don't ever pay attention to how close we actually are to the wild."

The boys had quickly changed into much more fitting clothing -shorts with plenty of pockets, t-shirts, and hiking boots- and had grabbed two bags, filled them with necessities like food and equipment, and were gone from the dorms in under thirty minutes. Bakugo led Kirishima the same way his mom would take him when he was younger- they took the train back to Bakugo's neighborhood, where Eijiro demanded they stop to say hi to his parents first, and then they took the familiar, beaten, trail off of the playground that Katsuki used when he was younger into the woods and then up to the small 'Hayama's Hiking Service' booth.

It was about the size of a living room. Three closed, red walls, with one open side where a worker sat. She looked only a little taller than them, with brown, straight, hair. Her face was buried in a magazine.

"This is the place you usually come to?" Eijiro asked, looking it over with wide eyes. Bakugo mumbled a 'yeah' before walking up to the booth and ringing the small bell on it. The girl behind the counter perked up, dropping the magazine off to her side, before standing up. She had blue eyes and young features, looking no older than the two of them. She first saw Kirishima, who smiled at her, and then she saw Bakugo, whose glare had softened over the years.

"Bakugo?" She asked, tilting her head slightly. She had a name tag pinned to her shirt that said 'Yumi'. "You still come here, after all these years?" There was a hint of humor in her voice.

Katsuki groaned. "Yeah, I'm standing right in front of you, dumbass," He responded, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I like these trails, alright? Get off my back about it."

Yumi smiled and leaned onto the counter. "You know Dad would be offended if you didn't like them," She told him, flicking her eyes over to Kirishima. "You've been coming here since you were a kid. Lucky you got me instead of him, huh?"

"Yeah, he'd probably try to keep me here for eight years," The boy complained. "Whereas you'll only keep me here for four. Lucky fucking me, right?"

Kirishima chuckled before turning to Yumi.

"You'll have to excuse him. He's always this grumpy." The redhead explained. Bakugo turned on him, murderous intent in his eyes, before Yumi laughed, letting her head fall against her closed fist.

"I bet. Bakugo was always a lil hot-headed when he was younger," She responded, an easy smile on her face. "So who're you? Bakugo usually comes up here alone."

"Oh, I'm Eijiro. Eijiro Kirishima," He responded, having succeeded in calming the other boy down.

"Nice to meet you, Kirishima," She commented, sitting up. "I'm Yumi Hayama. My dad started this booth when I was a kid and Bakugo's been coming here since he was like six."

Kirishima grinned, throwing an arm around Bakugo's neck.

"Yeah, I bet. The way he talks about it, it sounds like he lived in these woods before coming to U.A.," The redhead replied. "You know, I've begged him to bring me out here but he always said no. And then this morning, he just outright asks me if I want to come with him like it's nothing. Crazy, right?"

The brunette laughed again, side-eyeing Bakugo while she talked.

"Yeah, I can see that." She replied. "I remember his parents tried to tag along with him once a few years back and he blew up. Luckily his mom can handle him, huh?"

Katsuki slammed his hand down on the counter though, surprisingly, he didn't blow it to high hell.

"Fuck! Can I just take my goddamn boyfriend onto the goddamn trails and get this shit over with?" He exclaimed. Before either of the other two could respond, He grabbed Kirishima's hand and stalked off toward the trail, which quickly descended into the woods. Just before they were out of sight, he turned around and yelled; "We'll be back before you're gone, fucker! Don't get any wrong fucking ideas!"

A second later, the couple disappeared into the woods. Yumi expected to hear the usual sounds of Bakugo blasting his anger away, but she was surprised to hear nothing in its place.

"Well, he is with his _boyfriend_ , after all," She said to herself before slumping back down into her seat and picking her magazine back up.

* * *

"Your boyfriend, huh?" Eijiro asked, still being pulled along down the trail. Before they'd left U.A., Bakugo had told him the first fifteen minutes of the trail were pretty easy because they barely went uphill. They'd get a bit more exciting after all.

"Yeah," Bakugo responded, walking ahead of him by what seemed like pure muscle memory. "What's wrong with it?"

"N-nothing's wrong!" Kirishima quickly patched, holding a hand up in mock surrender. "I just...I've never heard you say it before."

The two of them slowed to a halt and Bakugo turned to face the redhead. He hadn't let go of his hand.

"...That must've been a shitty way to hear it for the first time then," Katsuki conceded, his voice growing low. "...sorry, Eijiro."

The redhead smiled and tightened his grip on the other's hand.

"You don't have to apologize, Katsuki," He replied. "It's not like I thought I wasn't your boyfriend."

"Yeah, but thinking it and hearing it are two different things," Bakugo responded, looking down at the ground between his feet. "...I'll make it up to you."

Kirishima smiled before leaning forward and pecking the blond on his cheek.

"Like I said, you don't have to do that," He said, clenching his hand as well. "But I appreciate it anyway. Let's get into the better parts of the trail, alright? We've got a couple hours left."

Eijiro walked forward and pulled on Bakugo's hand. After a moment, the blond sighed and turned to follow, a small smile slipping onto his face.

"...Sure. I know a path that's a lot more fun to take a bit further ahead. Follow me."

* * *

"Ehh? So spiky-hair and funny-hair haven't come back yet?" Mei asked, her head tilted in question.

"Exactly so. Midoriya told me that he'd seen them leaving in hiking gear, but that was hours ago," Iida responded, his arms crossed. "I hope they'll get back in time. Aizawa-sensei has been pretty upset about students breaking curfew lately."

The pink-haired girl shrugged, her legs kicked up over the arm of the couch.

"No one really pays attention to the curfew, though," She stated. In her hands, she fiddled with a small device that she'd had yet to tell him about. "I'm sure they'll be back soon, so don't worry about it!"

Iida looked back at her from his place at the window.

"I can't do that, Mei. My duties as class president tell me that I must make sure my classmates are safe!" He exclaimed, exaggerated hand gestures included. "And besides, I'm not tired. I'll stay up for as long as I need to!"

Mei sat up, tossing the small device onto the table.

"Well yeah," She said, swinging her legs down onto the floor. "After what we did this morning, you slept for a few hours. I'd be surprised if you could sleep any more than you already have."

Iida's cheeks turned red. "Y-Yes, you're right. And thanks to that, I am completely well-rested!" He stated.

She snorted and walked up to him, throwing her arms over his shoulder from behind. He was a lot taller than her, though, so it proved to be a bit more difficult than she'd expected.

"Oh, come ooooon!" She complained. "Funny hair is a responsible guy, right? They'll be fiiiine. We can go back upstairs!"

Wincing slightly, Tenya was pulled away from the window as Mei began to walk him backward.

"M-Mei, please! I'm still a little sore...," He complained.

"Oh, don't be a baby! C'mon, they'll be fine!" She told him, leading him toward the elevator.

"W-well, maybe you're right...w-we should get some rest!"

"That's the spirit, Tenya!"

* * *

 **So, this one may seem a little short and that's because I'm writing the KiriBaku chapters differently than the others. While the others are all fluff and sweetness, with a lil bit of angst from time to time, Bakugo's chapters are gonna revolve around him not being a goddamn cactus all the time and he'll actually grow as a person, maybe.**

 **This is mostly because I can't write him all fluffy like I do the others because it's just not in his character. So instead, I decided to give him some growth so that, eventually, I _can_ write him as fluffy as I do the others. See, it all makes sense!**

 **All that aside, I hope you enjoyed this short ass chapter. I'm still working on backlogging future chapters, so thanks for sticking around.**

 **Dantikat, out.**


	16. Top Speeds

Summary: On a regular training day, Iida is focused on trying to up his top speed. Mei, who just so happens to be around, comes up with an excellent idea in order to help him.

* * *

"Engines are all fine, so you should be good, darling!" Mei exclaimed, pulling her goggles up to her forehead. "I applied that cooling agent you asked me about, so you should be able to abuse your engines for a bit longer before the heat gets to you. You should be careful, though. It's been tested, but your engines are significantly stronger than the ones I used. I'm not sure how well it'll work because of that."

Iida stood up and stretched once more, groaning as his limbs popped into place. Once he'd finished, he turned and smiled at Mei.

"I have faith that it'll do just fine," He told her, kneeling down and getting into a runner's position. "You're the one who made it, after all."

Hatsume smiled, a spot of blush dusting her cheeks. From the pocket of her overalls, she pulled out a small timer.

"You spoil me," She replied, almost mumbling. "I want to measure how fast you can run, darling. We can compare the times after each lap. Does that sound good?"

He nodded and then turned to look down the track.

"Sounds great, Mei," Tenya replied. "Let's try and shoot for four laps for now, okay? I don't want to overdo it."

"Whatever you say, darling! Now let's get this show on the road!" She exclaimed, the timer in her hand. "On three! One...two...three!"

Iida took off, his engines blasting out thin rows of flames as he did. In the aftermath of his start, Mei's hair whipped forward, flowing past her face. Thanks to her quirk, though, she was able to keep her eyes zoomed in on her darling as he rounded the end of the track and burned his way down the path. In his wake, the ground blackened and, by the time he looped around the other end, the smoke was still barely clearing.

He rushed past her and, thanks to her reflexes, Mei was able to press down on the stopwatch, recording the time for his first lap. She had no time to look down at it, though, because as soon as her eyes got to him again, he was already halfway around the entire track once more.

The routine followed like that two more times. By the time he'd finished the fourth lap and skidded to a stop in front of Hatsume, the girl's hair looked permanently windswept. When Iida saw her, he cringed slightly out of pure shame.

"A-ah, Mei...," He started, reaching out. Once he realized he was doing it, though, he also realized that he had no idea what he intended to do with his hands and instead let them fall to his sides. "Ahem...s-sorry about your hair."

Mei grinned from ear to ear and threw her arms out.

"My hair? Who cares about my hair?!" She asked, almost incredulous. Turning around the stopwatch, she walked forward and practically shoved it into his face. "You went through four laps in barely twenty seconds!"

Despite the red that flashed across his face, Iida bowed his head slightly. "It's really not that impressive, Mei," He told her, humble to a fault. "I could always be better, like my brother."

She awkwardly let her arms fall to her sides and hesitantly took a step closer to him. Her eyes were full of sympathy, despite the toothy smile she wore.

"You're right. You can always be better," She said, finally stopping in front of him. She took his hands in both of hers and, though they were a bit limp at first, he gripped them back. "But that doesn't mean you can't take pride in your current accomplishments!"

His eyes drifted over hers and he smiled, though it was weak. In response, she smiled even brighter at him.

"Keep your head up, Tenya!" She let go of his hands, only to wrap her arms around his chest, hugging him tightly. "As long as you do, you'll reach your brother's level and even surpass him soon."

It took him a moment, but he eventually wrapped his arms around her, hugging her back tightly.

"Thank you, Mei," He whispered, barely louder than the wind around them. "I appreciate your words."

She smiled and nuzzled her forehead against his chest. He was so much taller than her that it made things a bit awkward, but it was nothing short of loving regardless of that.

Suddenly, she pulled back from the hug and stared her boyfriend in the eyes excitedly.

"So I got an idea!" She exclaimed, her grip on his arms growing tighters as she herself got more and more excited. Iida gulped, though the smile on his face refused to waver at all.

"What might it be, Mei?" He asked with a slight tilt of his head. Hatsume took that moment to pull herself out of his embrace and finally smoothed her hair back to his usual stature.

"I was thinking. You cleared those four laps in twenty seconds or so, right? What if we get a singular straight track and, instead of measuring how long it'll take you to go around the entire thing, we track how long it takes you to go all the way down and back without stopping! A linear track will probably help you improve better since stopping at that speed is probably a lot harder to do than it is to just circle the track like usual!" She moved her hands animatedly as she talked and, while Tenya was listening to everything she was saying and was taking note of every suggestion, he couldn't help but smile a bit more at how much she loved what she was doing. Whether it be developing support items or just helping people out, he was glad that she was enjoying and taking pride in what she was doing. He could stand to try and be like that a bit more...

"I could probably try and measure your top speed versus your acceleration rate, too. I think you accelerate a little faster than you run and, if that's the case, we can try and bump those numbers up a bit more, don't you think?" She asked, finally stopping and pausing to listen for his input. Anyone would've been completely lost in such a long state of rambling, but Iida had gotten quite used to it. He smiled and nodded, crossing his arms slightly.

"If you think it's possible, then I see no reason we shouldn't try it," He replied. Hatsume grinned toothily and jumped excitedly from foot to foot. "But we shouldn't overdo it. Today isn't the only day I have to train. We can take it easy for today, can't we?"

A glint of mischievousness shone in her eyes and it was almost enough to push Tenya back ever so slightly.

"Nonsense! We have to take full advantage of the resources that are given to us! If we don't go all out from the start then how will we know if there's a limit in the first place?!"

"M-Mei we have limits! And, more specifically, I have limits! You wouldn't run me into the dirt, would you?"

At that, Hatsume turned on her boyfriend with probably the most intimidating smile on her face that he had ever seen. Hours later, he would remember that smile and the sense of foreboding that it put on him. Days later, he'd remember it and get that feeling all over again.

"For the glory of success, I'm willing to do what it takes, darling! I am willing to sacrifice almost everything if it means helping you become a greater hero!"

Her insinuations weren't lost on Tenya but...the smile and the way she said it made sure he would only remember the feeling that it stirred within him. He gulped. Today would feel like forever.

"M-Mei...! I-I can't run anymore...!" Iida complained, on his knees halfway across the track. The sky had gone dark and the windows of the buildings around them were either dark or glowed with fluorescent, yellow, light. The straight track that they had switched to looked as if an army had run across it; The ground was practically assaulted with the force of multiple footfalls and, occasionally here and there down the track, there were scorch marks against the ground that looked like they had once been full flames. Off to the side of the track, Hatsume sat on the ground, her legs crossed. On the ground next to her was a pile of shoes, all of which seemed to have been run down to the soles until they weren't even functional as shoes anymore. Despite the intense disrepair that the track was in, the pinkette on the ground seemed positively ecstatic for whatever reason. The smile on her face was wide and pure and, as she looked down at the notepad and stopwatch in her lap, she seemed to be genuinely happy and at peace.

That could definitely not be said for Tenya IIda, who was collapsed on the track itself. He wore only the pants to his gym uniform and a white t-shirt, the jacket hanging from Hatsume's shoulders and keeping her relatively warm. His face, arms, and legs were streaked with sweat and the current pair of shoes he wore were blackened at the bottom and seemed like they had started melting at some point. It was hard to tell if he was even moving, though the rhythmic rising of his chest was enough to let Mei know that her boyfriend was alive, no matter how much abuse he'd taken in the last few hours.

"It's okay, darling! We're more than finished for today," She replied, scribbling furiously in the notepad she'd brought with her. Once she was done, she slid both the notepad and the stopwatch into the pocket of her overalls and stood up, pulling Tenya's jacket tight around her. "I'll help you back to the dorm and we don't have to do this again for a while, okay?"

She was met with a groan that, in her opinion, sounded quite agreeing, so she hurried over to Iida and helped him to his feet.

"Wh-what about the shoes?" He asked, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the pile. Hatsume smiled and patted his arm reassuringly.

"Don't worry about that. I'll come back to get them after I get you back." She told him while leaning up to place a chaste kiss against his cheek. He smiled slightly before letting himself fall just a bit more limp against her.

The walk back was quiet, though it was far from uneventful. Mei tried her hardest to apologize for what she'd done—After all the adrenaline wore off, she realized that she'd been something a little less than human to her boyfriend of all people and felt the need to say sorry—though Iida was having none of it. Sure, it had been an ordeal for him, but he knew that she'd only done it out of the pureness of her heart. To him, that made the entire thing okay. Hatsume swore it wasn't, but the burning red blush on her face as she denied it let Iida know that, at the very least, he'd made his affection clear.

It wasn't long before the two of them took a short break in the common room of Height's Alliance. Iida leaned up against the back of the couch, drinking a glass of water, as Mei stood across from him, knitting her fingers together nervously. The embers of her earlier blush were still visible and it didn't help at all that every time IIda said something affection it was so whole-heartedly pure.

Tenya pulled the now-empty cup away and sighed as he put it down.

"I think I'm feeling better now, Mei," He said, standing up slightly. He winced on his way up, which made Hatsume take a step closer to him. He smiled, though, and waved it off dismissively. "Don't worry. A hot shower and a good night's sleep and I should be fine."

Mei pulled her outstretched arms back a little twiddling her fingers together. She looked away and Iida raised an eyebrow, leaning his head to the side to try and catch her eye—Though she immediately looked away again.

"A-are you sure you can go upstairs on your own?" She asked, still looking away. Iida had never heard that degree of emotion in her voice before. She sounded almost...vulnerable. "Y-you don't need any help or anything...d-do you?"

Iida hesitated before smiling and leaning forward to take her hands in his own, bigger ones. She barely flinched and kept her gaze turned the other way.

"I might be able to," He started, keeping his voice low. "But I'd feel a lot safer if you helped me out, Mei."

She finally turned to look back at him and her eyes—as yellow and beautiful as they were—seemed to brighten just a fraction more. She smiled unsurely at him before she nodded slightly.

"O-Okay...Tenya," She said, just as quietly. "W-we should get going now. If you don't sleep soon, you won't get enough rest for class."

He smiled and nodded. "That applies to you as well. Your room is too far. Would you...like to stay in my room for the night? J-Just for now."

Mei's smile grew, though the blush is her face blossomed once again.

"I...wouldn't mind that," She replied after a slight pause. "Aizawa-sensei might be roaming the halls soon. We really should go now."

Iida tightened his grip on her hands and finally leaned fully up off of the couch.

"You're right. Let's get going as soon as possible," He pulled her along with him as he began to walk. "Taking the stairs is probably safer."

"Your legs are still sore, darling! We're taking the elevator." Mei replied, stopping him and hitting the call button. He almost kept going, but the familiar ding of the doors opened stopped him and he, reluctantly, turned and walked into the elevator with his girlfriend. She smiled up at him and gripped his hand appreciatively before the doors shut on them and the night was quiet once more.

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 **Bet it probably felt like I was dead for a while, huh?**

 **Sorry about that. I started college in August and so far, it's definitely been an experience. I'm not gonna say it's a good one, nor will I say it's a bad one, just that it's an experience. It's shaped me in a few different ways and because of that, I've had negative amounts of motivation to write practically since I got here. Nonetheless, I think I'm in a better place now and I'll definitely be trying to do better nowadays.**

 **If anyone is even still reading this, thank you for sticking by me. I appreciate you more than you'll ever know, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Dantikat out.**


	17. Hard Work and Dedication

Summary: For weeks on end, Bakugo and Kirishima have held their own private 'Pro-Hero Kombat X' tournaments. Each and every time they play, though, Bakugo mercilessly beats his boyfriend into the ground. Kirishima, however, refuses to give up and challenges Bakugo to a game again every time.

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Out of all of the boys in Class 1-A, Katsuki was one of the bests when it came to 'Pro-Hero Kombat X'. He'd played all the previous titles and, thankfully, All Might's moveset hadn't changed much over the years. Because of that, he could pick the former Number 1 Hero in any of the successive games and re-master him almost instantly. Kirishima was one of the higher-ups on that list, but he was far from being the best since he played a much more difficult character; Crimson Riot.

With the addition of the 'Legacy Pack', a lot of older heroes were added into the game in homage of their deeds. Crimson Riot was one of the twelve heroes added in and Kirishima was dedicated to learning and mastering him as soon as he'd found out. The problem with that, though, was that the passionate hero had extremely difficult-to-land combos, which meant the redhead would have to put in extra time to try and master him.

This led to Eijiro constantly challenging his boyfriend to matches in the game to try and do better after his rigorous training in the game. 'If I can beat the best of the best, then that makes me a master!' he would say. Katsuki always scoffed at his excitement, but he never turned down the challenge.

Week after week, Kirishima lost to Katsuki's All Might. The blonde was simply too good. He knew all of the hero's combos, all of the sweet spots for his most damaging moves, and had memorized the button layouts so long ago that they might as well be imprinted on his brain. Meanwhile, Kirishima was just barely scratching the surface of Crimson Riot's massive skillset. The redhead never lost hope, though. Determined to beat Bakugo one of these days, he spent as much of his free time training, both in real life and in the game, in hopes of getting that sweet, sweet 'VICTORY' screen one day.

The only person in their class that could be considered second to Katsuki's All Might was Midoriya's own All Might. Unsurprisingly, the two of them played the Symbol of Peace and constantly butted heads over which of them was better. Out of the six tournaments they'd held since moving into Heights' Alliance, both Bakugo and Midoriya had managed to snag three overall wins each and both boys were eager to face off in the next tournament to grab a one-up on the other.

Kirishima knew that the green-haired boy was the only one to beat Bakugo in a straight fight, but he had no idea how Midoriya had done it. It could be argued that it was just the same raw skill that Bakugo held, but the passionate hero-to-be thought otherwise. With this in mind, he managed to corner Izuku one day while they were walking back from classes.

"How do I always beat Kacchan?" He asked for confirmation, to which Kirishima eagerly nodded. "Well, I grew up with the same games he did. While he memorized every move that All Might had, I memorized every move that all the other heroes had, including All Might."

At that, Eijiro tilted his head in question.

"Wait...so you're telling me you just know every other characters' sweet spots?" He asked, to which Midoriya nodded. A great smile erupted across the redhead's face. "That's so manly! You could probably beat Bakugo with any of the characters, huh?"

Midoriya's smile grew wavey and he began to wave his hand dismissively.

"I-I wouldn't say that...K-Kacchan's still really good with All Might, so it'd take some work to break around what he already knows," Then he stood tall again as the pair walked back to the dorms together. "Still, it's not like I have a cheat code to beat him. We've played the game together forever and I'm used to playing against him is all. It just takes work."

For a moment, Kirishima's smile faltered. Like it was nothing, though, the sun flashed against his bright teeth as he smiled even wider.

"Well, that's kind of a bummer," He admitted. "But it's not like this is gonna kill my mood or anything! I'll challenge him as many times as it takes until I finally beat him fair and square!" He exclaimed, smacking the other boy on the back. "Thanks, Midoriya! I'll catch you later, alright?"

And before the greenette could respond, Kirishima took off running in the direction of the dorms. A mere moment after, Ochako stepped toward to take her place at Izuku's side.

"What was that all about?" She asked, taking Deku's hand in her own with ease. He turned to her and shrugged, despite the smile on his face.

"Kirishima just needed some help with something," He commented before the two of them began to walk back as well. "Want to meet me on the first so we can watch that one TV show you mentioned?"

Ochako smiled, shooting her fist into the air excitedly.

"Yeah! Let's do it, Deku!"

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Sipping from a glass of orange juice, Bakugo was nearly bulldozed by a certain overactive redhead who should really watch where he's goddamn going, sometimes!, though he was sure to let it slide.

Kirishima skidded to a stop in front of him, the biggest—dare he say shit-eating—grin on his face.

"Hey, Katsuki," He exclaimed, finally calming down enough to not be yelling at the top of his lungs. "When you're free, can you play me in PHK X?"

The aforementioned blonde raised an eyebrow before slowly pulling his glass closer to his face to take a long, effortless drink. Once he'd drained the glass, he shoved his free hand into his pocket and leaned against the kitchen counter.

"I plan to go train in like thirty minutes. I don't know when I'll be back," Bakugo stated. He watched as Eijiro's eyebrows began to slip downward and a crestfallen look began to take on his face. "But sure. It'll be good to unwind with."

Kirishima's smile blew up even more and he shot his fist into the air happily.

"All right! I'll be practicing till you get back! Don't expect me to be easy!" The hot-blooded hero claimed. Despite his confusion, Bakugo couldn't help the small smile that slipped onto his face. He promptly ignored it, though, and tilted his head in question instead.

"Why're you so excited about it?" He asked. Then; "Y'know what, scratch that, you're always excited. Why is this time anything special?"

Eijiro smiled again before putting his hands on his hips defiantly.

"Because today I'm perfectly motivated!" He exclaimed, punching his fist into his palm. "I haven't beat you yet, but I haven't given up either! I'm gonna beat you, Katsuki! You can best believe that I will!"

Seeing his boyfriend so energetic and expectant made him smile. That smile, though, soon grew into a grin that left Katsuki laughing voraciously; So hard that he had to put his glass down in fear of breaking it or at least cracking it. The kitchen itself was empty, and so was the common room across from them. Because of that, Eijiro was one of the only people to experience Bakugo in such a state of pure mirth. The lines on his face from the deep scowl that he so casually wore were practically nonexistent, replaced by the bubbly air of happiness and joy around him at that very moment. Something about watching Bakugo laugh with no filter and no cap on his happiness made Kirishima's heart thump almost painfully in his chest. It was at this point that he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he loved Katsuki Bakugo.

Bakugo wiped a tear from the corner of his eye before looking back at his boyfriend with what could only be called a smile of pure happiness on his face and nodded.

"All right then, Eijiro," He said, his voice quieter than before. "I'll make sure I come back soon so that we can play. Promise."

Kirishima's eyes brightened.

"All right! I'll show you just how much I've been practicing!"

"Hahh? You gonna blow me out of the water with all that 'new skill' of yours?"

"You bet your ass I am! I'll play you as many times as I need to to win, Katsuki!"

Bakugo smirked and crossed his arms. Sure, Kirishima was all loud and excited every day, but it didn't change the fact that Bakugo loved seeing him like that. The brightness that he seemed to carry around with him just infected Katsuki more times than he'd like to admit, though he'd never admit it in the first place. For now, he'd be content with his thoughts on the matter. And right now, his thoughts were telling him the one thing that he already knew to be the truest thing in his world: That he loved Eijiro Kirishima as much as a human being possibly could.

Kirishima held his fist out and Bakugo bumped it with his own.

"As soon as you get back, I'll be at your door," Eijiro said, his voice low and a bit husky. "You'd better be ready!"

"Hahh? That's quite the confidence. You haven't gotten over me yet, don't think you'll be doing it now!"


End file.
